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A 

VOYAGE TO CHINA. 



VOLUME II. 



A 



VOYAGE TO CHINA; 

INCLUDING 

A VISIT TO THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY ; 
THE MAHRATTA COUNTRY ; 
THE CAVE TEMPLES OF WESTERN INDIA, SINGAPORE, 
THE STRAITS OF MALACCA AND SUNDA, 

AND THE 

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



BY 

DR, BERNCASTLE, 

MEMUKR OF THE BOYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON. 



IN TWO VOLUMES. 

VOL, II, 



LONDON : 
V^TILLIAM SHOBERL, PUBLISHER, 

20, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET, 



1850. 



C\) i^^.so 



yi/ . * C.^ny^iJ^ 




LONDON: 
MYERS AND CO., PBINTEBS, 
37, KING 8TBEBT, COVENT GARDEN. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLAN OF THE CITY 
AND SUBURBS OF CANTON. 



[The fac-simile of one of the best native maps, executed 
by a native artist, which forms the Frontispiece to the 
present volume, will afford a tolerable idea of the general 
plan and outline of the city.] 

a a. Mark the situation of the Ckoo-keangy or Pearl River. 
A small Fort, called the French Fofli/j stands in the 
river a short distance from the south-east comer of 
the city ; another Fort, called the DtUch FoUy, stands 
further up the river. 

h. Points out the situation of the foreign yjictom* on the 
north bank of the river. 

c. Marks the locality of the Mahommedan mosque, in the 

old city, near the western gate. 

d. A native Pagoda, north of the mosque. 

e. A lofty and conspicuous building, called the five-storied 

Pagoda. 
/. The Governor's House : it stands in the new city, not 

far from the Yew-Ian gate. 
g. The Foo-yuen's House, which stands near the centre of 

the old city. 
A. House of the Tseang-keun, or Tartar general, m the old 

city. 



I. The House of the Hoppo, on the south side of the new 
city, near the Tsing-hae gate. 

h. House of the Heo-yuen, or literary Chancellor of Canton, 
in the south part of the old city. 

/. House of the Poo-ching sze, or treasurer of the provin- 
cial revenue, near the centre of the old city. 

m. House of the Gan-cha-sze, or criminal judge of the 
province. 

n. House of the Yen-yun-sze, or superintendant of the salt 
department, near the Kwei-tih gate. 

0. Kung-yuen : a hall for the reception of literary candi- 
dates at the regular examinations. 

p. Yuh-ying-tang ; a foundling hospital, on the east of the 
city. 

q, Teen-tsze ma-taou : the execution ground, without the 
southwn gates, near the river. 

r. The French Folly. 

s. The Dutch Folly. 



CONTENTS OF VOL. II. 



CHAPTER I. 

Straits of Callam — The Hastings — ^Views of Malacca — 
Native Canoes — Barter for Provisions — Mount Ophir — 
The Palo Carimon Islands — Entrance to Singapore — Spa 
cious Harbour — The London Hotel — The Author meets 
with a Friend — ^A Walk through the Town with him — 
The Chinese Quarter — Shops and Shopkeepers — Opium- 
smoking — A confirmed Smoker — ^The Opium Pipe — En- 
ormous Boa Constrictor — Chinese Funeral — Divisions of 
the Town — ^Its Commercial Importance — The " Sampan" 
— ^Boats and Cabs — Convicts — Pine-apples abundant — 
The Mangosteen — A Drive into the Interior — Sugar 
Manufactory — A Fracas — A Nutmeg Plantation — Fero- 
cious Tigers — Residence of the Sultan of Johore — Return 
on Board 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Sail through the Straits of Singapore — ^Intricate Navigation 
— Chinese Boat — ^The Ladrone Islands — ^The Lema Is- 
lands — Harbour of Hong Kong — A Busy Scene — Sampan 
Boats — Description of the Island — ^Victoria — The Com- 
pradore System— Climate — Robberies — Curious Form of 
Oath— The Court of Heaven— Chase of a Pirate— Fast 
Boats to Macao — Dangers of the Passage. . 30 



via CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 

Excursion from Victoria to Whampoa — The River Tigris 
— Chow-chow water — ^Anson's Bay — The Bogue Forts 
— Permission to pass them — The Bar Pagoda — ^Whampoa 
Reach — Chops, or River Residences — Ships of Various 
Nations — Aquatic Society — Bamboo and New Towns 
— ^Variety of Trades — Situation of Bamboo Town — Public 
Billiard-Table — Oriental Hospitality — ^Amoon's Dry 
Dock — The Reverend Mr. Lomas — French Island — 
Murdered Englishmen — ^Extensive Paddy-fields — Malaria 
— The Whampoa Boatmen — The Boats described — Dan- 
ger of Pirates — Definition of Chinese Words — Fanqui, or 
Foreign Devil 52 



CHAPTER IV. 

Infinity of Boats on the Pearl River — Nature of their Car- 
goes — The Idol Joss — Esang, or Doctor — ^The Kitchen 
on Board, and other Appointments — Pirates' Junks — 
The Mandarin-Boat described — Attack on the May- 
Flower Cutter — The Owner badly wounded — No Steps 
taken by the British Government to Punish the Perpetra- 
tors — Traffic in Opium — Passage-boats to Hong Kong, 
Macao, Canton — ^Diversified River Scene — Order on the 
Canton River — ^The Duck-boat — Whampoa Washerwo- 
men — ^Their Interesting Appearance — Their Gratitude to 
their Customers — Trading with the Sailors — Prices of the 
various Articles of Dress — Samshu, an intoxicating 
Liquor — Bathing in China — Instructions given by the 
Consul to Masters of British Merchant Vessels arriving 
at Whampoa 68 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER V. 

Amusements of Boat-Sailing — Chinese Fmierak — A Visit 
to "Golgotha"— Sale of Children — Juvenile Intelligence 
— Dress of the Natives — Ornaments and Jewellery — 
Coins current in China — ^Provisions plentiful — Fruit in 
profusion — Safe Promenades — A Chinese Garden — 
Hatred of Fanquis ^-Englishmen Molested — Climate at 
Whampoa — ^The Visitor's Head Quarters — Course of the 
River — ^Visit to a Pagoda — Chinese Forts — Piles driven 
into the River — Villages — ^The French and Dutch Follies 
— Landing-places at Canton — Pirates. 86 

CHAPTER VI. 

Chinese Account of the City of Canton — Its History — The 
Shang Dynasty — Tribute to the Emperors — Extent of 
the City during the Chow Dynasty — Its Various Desig- 
nations— Rebellion in the Reign of Tsin-che-wang — 
Various Subsequent Changes — A Market Opened — The 
Famous Pass — Cruelties at Court — Imperial Edicts — Ex- 
tensive Wall Built — Increasing Commerce — ^The City 
Attacked by the Tartars and taken — Fearful Massacre 
of the Inhabitants — The Traitorous Prefect — Destruc- 
tion of Property — The New City described — State of 
the Walls — The Sixteen Gates — Description of the 
Suburbs. , . 103 

CHAPTER VII. 

Some account of the Factories — ^The Houses described — 
Amusements and Diversions -The Canton Regatta — 
Chinese Ball — Amount of Population — The Flower Boats 
— ^Principal Streets of the City — The Shopkeepers — 
Inconvenience of Narrow Streets — A Chinese Mob — 
Number of Beggars — The G^tes of Canton — New and old 



X CONTENTS. 

China Streets — Edible Birds'-Nests, an Article of great 
luxury — Mode of obtaining them attended with peril — 
Their value in the Market — Qualities attributed to this 
Curious Dish — TheSea-Slug, or B^che-de-Mer — ^'Jlie Ani- 
mal described — Used as an article of Food — Supply of 
Sharks'-fins 129 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Good Accommodation at Acow's Hotel — Doctor Parker's 
Hospital, and the Patients therein — Diminutive Feet of 
the Ladies — Barbarous Fashion — Chinese Wives — A 
Converted Chinaman — ^Account of the Feast of Lanterns 
— ^A Walk round the City of Canton, undertaken by the 
Author — A Disagreeable Quarter — Pleasing Landscape 
— ^Water-Carriers — ^View of the Interior of the City — 
Burial-ground — Crowded Suburbs — A School — Coolies 
and Market People — Fatiguing exertion — ^Ferocity of a 
Canton Mob — Murder of the Governor of Macao — Are 
the Chinese Cruel, or not? — Infanticide — Sale of Children 
— Apathy as to the Preservation of Life — Chinaman 
rescued from a Watery Grave — Revolting modes of 
Torture— Selfish Feelings— Progress of Civilization. 145 

CHAPTER IX. 

Another Morning's Excursion- -The Execution-Ground — 
Heads of the Criminals exposed to Public View — Crosses 
for Strangling — The Reverend T. Ball — Number of Exe- 
cutions — Women Strangled — Difficulty for a Stranger to 
be present — Politeness of Mr. Walkinshaw — A Visit to 
Howqua's House and Gardens — Insolence of the Chinese 
— Captain Hay's Expedition in quest of the Pirate Chief, 
Shap-tin-Sai — Destruction of his Fleet — Mock Philan- 
thropists — Character of Sir J. Brooke — ^Island of Amoy 
— Province of Shang-hai — Monotony of Chinese Land- 
scapes 163 



CONTENTS. Xi 



CHAPTER X. 

A Passage to Macao — Praya Grande — ^The Tanka-boat, 
rowed by Females — Population of Macao — Their Houses 
— ^The Market — Some account of the Town — The Grotto 
of Camoens — Atrocious Murder of the Governor — Chi- 
nese Fort taken by the Portuguese — Arms of the Chinese 
Soldier — The Author returns to Whampoa — Harbour of 
Hong Kong — A day at Victoria — ^Voyage down the 
China Sea — Island of Great Natunas — Crossing the Line 
— Gaspar Island — Coast of Sumatra — Malay-boat — 
Supply of Provisions — The Spanish Dollar — Moose Deer 
and Gennet Cat — The Straits of Sunda — Violent Squall 
— ^Intricate Navigation — Providential Escape. . 181 



CHAPTER XI. 

Christmas Island— Sperm Whales— Profusion of Turtle- 
Passage through the Indian Ocean — Race with an Ameri- 
can Ship — Press of Canvass — Premonitory Warning — 
The English Ship beats her competitor — Difficulty of 
approacliing the Cape from the Eastward — Progress along 
the African Coast — A Mutineer on board — His punish- 
ment — New Light-house — View of Table Mountain — 
Adverse winds — Arrival in Table Bay — The Author's 
second Visit to the Cape— -Good accommodation at Parke's 
Hotel — Invitation to the Vineyard — ^Variety of Fruits — 
South-Easters — The Botanical Gardens — New Jetty — 
Visit to Somerset Hospital — Curiosity -Hunting — Inland 
Lake — Wreck of the Childe Harold, and the Nepaul — 
Steam-tugs — Establishment for Lepers on Robben Island 
— Anecdote of a Traveller. .... 203 



XU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Glorious Day in the annals of the Cape of Good Hope — 
Departure of the "Neptune," Convict-ship, for Van 
Dieman's Land —Rejoicings and Illuminations in Cape 
Town — High position of the Colony — Union amongst 
the Colonists — Tyranny of Earl Grey — Degraded state 
of Van Dieman's Land— Evils of a Penal Settlement — 
Happy State of Security in the Cape Colony — Evils of 
introducing Convicts into it — Popularity of Sir Harry 
Smith — His admirable line of Conduct — Resolutions 
of the Anti-Convict Association — Sentiments of the In- 
habitants — Abuse of Power — Pledge taken by the 
Colonists — ^Insubordination among the Convicts on their 
Voyage to Van Dieman's Land — The Author returns to 
England. . 229 

Appendix . . 251 

Table of Distances from Victoria to Macao . 283 



VOYAGE TO CHINA 



CHAPTER I. 

Straits of Callam— The Hastings— Views of Malacca- 
Native Canoes — ^Barter for Provisions — Mount Ophir— 
The Palo Carimon Islands— Entrance to Singapore — Spa- 
cious Harbour — ^The London Hotel — The Author meets 
with a Friend — A Walk through the Town with him — 
The Chinese Quarter — Shops and Shopkeepers — Opium- 
smoking — A confirmed Smoker — ^The Opium Pipe — ^En- 
ormous Boa Constrictor — Chinese Funeral — Divisions of 
the Town — ^Its Commercial Importance — ^The " Sampan" 
— ^Boats and Cabs — Convicts — Pine-apples abundant — 
The Mangosteen — A Drive into the Interior — Sugar 
Manufactory— A Fracas — ^A Nutmeg Plantation — Fero- 
cious Tigers — Residence of the Sultan of Johore — Re- 
turn on Board 

The next morning we beat through the 
Narrows ; and, when clear of the bank, an- 
chored about ten miles from the Malay Coast 
off the Straits of Callam. 

Weighed again with the tide. A great 
number of flat fish, quite white, of the 

VOL. n. B 



2 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

shape of a turbot, are swimming alongside, 
near the surface of the water. Towards 
evening, a beautiful black-and-white snake, 
six feet long, was caught by a rope towing 
over the side, but escaped before it could be 
got on deck. 

The Hastings, 74, flag-ship of Admiral Sir 
F. Collier, in tow of the Fury,steamer, passed 
us within a few miles, bound to Penang. 

We are now approaching the town of 
Malacca, which appears in the distance, and 
at noon came to an anchor, about three miles 
from the shore. Malacca, once the capital 
of the Malay peninsula, belonged first to 
the Portuguese, then to the Dutch, who 
ceded it, in 1824, to the English, in ejt- 
change for Sumatra. It has greatly fallen 
from its ancient splendour, and forms, with 
Penang and Singapore, the " Straits Settle- 
ments," under the government of the East 
India Company. They are garrisoned by 
troops from the Madras Presidency, to which 
they are annexed. 

The view of Malacca, from the sea, is 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 3 

very beautiful ; the bungalows are seen ex- 
tending along the water's edge for several 
miles, interspersed with thick evergreen 
foliage. The fort and flag-staff are on an 
eminence, and a fine lighthouse, one hun- 
dred and fifty feet high, towers above the 
surrounding buildings. 

A native canoe, with Malay fishermen, 
wearing Chinese hats, came alongside. 
They had several large red fish, called 
snappers^ for which we gave them beef and 
pork, they preferring barter to money. The 
fish were excellent, and sufficient for all 
hands. 

Shortly afterwards, we were boarded by a 
number of light canoes with latteen mat 
sails, manned with Malays, and laden with 
the produce of the coast; Malacca canes, 
of all sizes, rattans, parrots, yams, cocoa- 
nuts, pine apples, mangosteens, eggs, fowls, 
and a variety of other articles. 

Most of these men speak broken English 
enough to transact business with the ships 
passing through the Straits. All is done 

B 2 



4 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

by barter; old coats, caps, shoes, linen, 
arms, in fact, anything is brought on deck, 
and one can in return for all the rubbish 
one possesses, obtain an ample supply of 
what they have to offer, each party being 
equaUy satisfied with his bargain. 

For a dollar, I got a bundle of one hun- 
dred Malacca canes, many single ones of 
which would cost a guinea at Sangster's. 
Pine apples were quite a drug, and every 
Lascar might be seen about the decks, 
munching fruit that would be prized on a 
nobleman's table. The Malay fowls when 
cooked, are almost black, and have rather a 
repulsive appearance, but are very good 
eating. 

Behind the town of Malacca, at some dis^- 
tance, is seen Mount Ophir, 7,000 feet high, 
which adds greatly to the surrounding 
scenery. 

Next morning, we left this delightful spot, 
the navigation among the numerous islands 
becoming exceedingly interesting, Pulo 
Roupat and Mount Formosa, in sight all day. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 5 

As we coast along, a few miles from the 
land, the wind failing, we " brought up^^ and 
waited for the tide. Having hinted a wish 
to go on shore, the captain consented to our 
doing so* Fire-arms, cutlasses, and plenty 
of ammunition, are immediately called for, 
and everything is ready, when some dis- 
cussion arose about the boat we were to 
take ; and, as we could not have the gig, 
we declined the offer of the jolly-boat, which 
would not have enabled us to reach the 
shore before sunset. Considering that 
fierce Malays and tigers are the usual 
denizens of these parts, we thought that we 
might as well have the advantage of day- 
light for such a " jaunt.'* 

June 15th. We have made no progress 
since yesterday, and, were it not for the 
magnificent scenery constantly surrounding 
one, the voyage through these Straits might 
become tedious, having generally to anchor 
each time the tide turns. Two large Malay 
proas, with three masts, and a single square 
sail on each, pass to the westward. 



P A VOYAGE TO CIUNA. 

At midnight, the habitual " Sumatra," 
with torrents of rain, and most vivid light- 
ning, suddenly disturb the stillness we had 
enjoyed, in the midst of all which, cries of 
" Land ahead !" issued from the forecastle. 
The hehn was immediately put down ; we 
tacked, and stood away from it. The lead 
was hove all night, and the land proved to 
be Pulo Pisang, on the Malay coast. 

In the morning of the 17th June, we pass 
by the picturesque group of Pulo Carimons, 
covered with trees of the richest verdure 
and, after a passage of seventeen days' run 
through the Straits of Malacca, we come in 
sight of Singapore, celebrated as having been 
founded at the edge of the thickest jungle, 
by Sir Stamford Kaffles, to beconae the em- 
porium of commerce and civilization of the 
far East, As we came nearer, we were 
boarded by Malays, in their elegant " Sam- 
pan" boats, each offering his services as 
" Dubash," or boatman, to the ship during 
her stay. Each had a book with the va- 
rious certificates of satisfaction from the 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 7 

captains of the different ships he had 
attended on, for years back : some in Ger- 
man, Dutch, French, Spanish, or English. 

The entrance to Singapore, or Sincapore, 
as it is sometimes called, is extremely beau- 
tiful; you pass close to John's island, and 
several others on the left, literally covered 
with pine-apples, nutmeg and cocoa-nut 
plantations, all of the brightest perpetual 
green. As you see it once, so it is all 
the year round, few days elapsing without 
showers of rain to lay the dust and irrigate 
the vegetation in this torrid region, close 
under the line. 

We soon found ourselves inside the 
spacious harbour, which appears almost 
land-locked by the different islands outside, 
looking not unlike a large lake, with the 
town in front, extending down to the water's 
edge. Ships of all nations were here, and 
a number of Chinese junks gave a finish to 
the Oriental aspect of the place. Earlier in 
the season of the monsoon, large fleets of 
these immense junks may be seen, going in 



8 A VOYAGE TO CHESTA/ 

and out of the harbour, there being a great 
trade, and also emigration of Chinese, from 
China to this place and back again. 

We brought up, two miles from the shore^ 
manned the gig with our dandy Lascars, 
with their flowing gold and silver turbans, 
and found ourselves, in half an hour, landed 
on the boat quay of Singapore, We went 
forthwith to Tronquoi's " London Hotel," 
a splendid establishment, having most ex- 
tensive accommodation, in the first style 
and at the moderate price of two dollars* a 
day, wines not included. One peculiarity 
is, that you are charged the same, whether 
present at meals or not. The Hotel de 
Paris is another large house, but not on 
such a scale as the first. 

Having heard quite accidentally, in the 
Straits of Malacca, that Dr. Allen, whom I 
had known intimately as a medical student 
in Paris, in 1836, and who had emigrated 
to Australia, some years back, was now 
practising in Singapore, I called on him, 

* About nine shillings. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 9 

and he was not a little surprised on recog- 
nising, by the voice only, so unexpected a 
visitor. I received, of course, the most 
cordial welcome, which, by the bye, one 
meets with at any time from one's country- 
men in the East, where John Bull shakes 
off, soon after his arrival, his stiff, formal, 
distant style of manner, so habitual to him, 
and is really seen to great advantage. I was 
enabled to treat my friend to recent news 
from home, about some of his family I had 
met since he had heard from them. 

Having given to each other a brief out- 
line of our life, since the number of years 
we had been separated and steered such 
different courses, 

" Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum," 

he introduced me to his lady, whose 
personal attractions I had long ago heard of 
in England, which was well confirmed by 
her being considered one of the " Belles " 
of Singapore, in fact, the " Belle." 
The doctor acted as my cicerone^ and 

B 8 



10 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

we walked out in the evening, passing 
by the English Church, a very fine new 
building, the Theatre, Government House, 
and the Institution, built by Sir Stamford 
Raffles, the founder of the colony, which 
' took place no further back than 1819, the 
population amounting, in 1836, to 30,000, 
and at present, to a much greater number. 

In the Chinese quarter of the tovm, we 
entered a few opium-shops, but they were 
all empty, and we were told by the Chinamen 
to return in the evening about eight or 
nine, when they began to fill. Government 
farms out, for a fixed revenue per annum, 
the privilege of licensing a certain number 
of these opium-shops, which is a speculation 
to the man who takes it, and who is called 
the opium-farmer. We looked in upon a 
Chinese painter, and found him at work 
copying a portrait. This man has a repu- 
tation for taking good likenesses of many of 
the principal inhabitants. 

We next entered a Chinese doctor's shop, 
of which there are a great number in the 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 11 

bazaar; there was a variety of small 
drawers, each containing different drugs, 
roots, leaves, and seeds, but scarcely any of 
them would be found in our materia me- 
dica. In fact, I could scarcely recognise 
one single drug, except ginseng, and China 
root. There were many compounds in 
pots, which I did not attempt to make 
out. 

At night, we returned to the opium- 
shops, and visited in succession ten or 
twelve. Each shop contains a bench about 
four feet broad, reaching from one end of 
the room to the other, on each side, leaving 
a passage between ; these are covered with 
matting, for the smokers to recline upon, 
and have affixed to them, at equal distances 
between every two persons, a small lamp 
constantly burning, heat being required to 
be applied often to the pipe whilst smoking. 
Leading from this principal room are many 
smaller chambers, or recesses, concealed 
from vi^w by a curtain. These contain 
nothing bat a table and mats, upon which 



12 A VOYAGE TO CHINA, 

latter recline, out of sight, those smokers who 
are so far gone, that the eye would be 
shocked by the public exhibition of such 
depravity. 

We met principally with common, half- 
naked Chinamen, of all ages, and in all the 
diflferent stages of narcotism, some merely 
becoming gently exhilarated from their first 
pipe. Certainly, to speak fairly, the gin- 
palaces of London, half filled with women 
and infants, besides the other inmates, 
spending their last farthing in as bad a 
poison as opium, is a much more immoral 
and disgusting spectacle, occurring amongst 
civilized Christians of both sexes, in the 
boasted capital of the civilized world; 
whereas, this opium-smoking, which is 
making such a stir and shuddering amongst 
us unthinking people, turns out to be al- 
most entirely confined to Pagan Chinese 
coolies and mechanics, adults of one sex 
only indulging in it, and that principally 
at night, when their labour is over. Many 
of them are not much injured by it, when 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 13 

not taken to excess, as their looks, and the 
number of years they had been addicted to 
it, sufficiently proved. I am not going to 
sanction the custom at all, but seeing 
much worse practices at home, we should 
be cautious how we blame these half-bar- 
barous people, without religion, or the ad- 
vantages of education and civilization. 
Let us try to reform abuses here, before we 
interfere with them in the East. One strong 
young man had (edematous swellings all over 
his legs, which they said was not unfrequently 
a consequence amongst the most desperate 
smokers. 

We had looked into all the secret cabinets 
and recesses, and at last found one occupied 
by its wretched tenant. He was an elderly 
man, and, on being roused, looked at us with 
an air quite ^^hebeU.^^ He had finished 
his eighth pipe, and was an opium- smoker 
of ten years' standing. His idiotic aspect, 
and emaciated, shrivelled-up frame told 
plainly enough that he would soon finish 
his miserable career. 

The opium-pipe is altogether rather more 



14 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

than a foot in length, and has in it a small 
hole, about the size of a pea, where the 
opium is inserted. The landlord weighs for 
five cents* a small piece of the drug, which 
is mixed with bang and other compounds, 
and has the consistence of an extract. This 
he fixes on the end of a steel like a knitting 
needle, and hands it to the smoker, who 
pushes it with the steel into the small hole 
in the pipe, and then lights it at the lamp 
by his side. 

The smoke when inhaled is retained the 
same as with the hookah. "Mine host" 
having prepared me a pipe, I took a few 
whiffs, and did not find it unpleasant, nor 
produce any effect on me, but a few more 
probably would have done so, and I did not 
wish to be in a state of narcotism during the 
short space of time I had to spend at Singa- 
pore. The Chinamen in attendance at all 
these places were very civil and obliging. 
They gave us tea, without milk or sugar, 
in little cups about the size of an egg-cup. 

* Two pence lialf-penny. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 1$ 

The landlord was busy at his counter 
keeping his account book, writing in Chinese 
characters, perpendicularly, and reckoning 
up with a number of wooden balls, strung 
on wires in a frame,* a sort of counting- 
board they have constantly near them, and 
without which they will never make the 
simplest calculation you might ask of them. 
This, in China, sometimes annoyed me ex- 
ceedingly, as you have to wait so long for 
an answer about the price of anything, 
whilst they are pulling these balls up and 
down the wires. 

Having been pretty well prevented from 
sleeping all night by mosquitoes, I was 
aroused suddenly in the morning, and called 
down stairs to see an enormous live Boa- 
constrictor, tied by the neck to a long pole, 
around which he entwined himself; he was 
brought into the court-yard by two Malays 
who had caught him a few hours before, 
in a corner of a room in their cottage near 
the town, and offered him for sale. He 

* Called a swam-pan. 



16 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

measured fourteen feet in length, and one 
in circumference, was beautifully marked 
with a large black diamond pattern, and 
the price was three dollars. I said one, for 
which sum they returned in a few minutes, 
and left me the bargain. 

I could, if I had had more time, have 
kept him alive in a proper cage, but in a 
ship, such pets as boa-constrictors are not 
very handy, so that the next step was to kill 
him, and preserve the skin and stuff it- 

This was not so easy a matter ; a quarter 
of an ounce of Prussic acid poured down his 
throat, had no effect but to make him more 
violent. I next tried the same quantity of 
corrosive sublimate in a little water, with 
no better result. After waiting a couple of 
hours, the rain came down in torrents, and 
I thought of drowning, by keeping his head 
under water with heavy weights, which 
succeeded at last, having lost three hours in 
these different attempts to destroy him.* 

* The Boa is now in the Museum of Comparatiye Ana- 
tomy, at Oxford. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 17 

The rain continued through the morning, 
few days elapsing without some rain all the 
year round, which serves well to lay the dust, 
to cool the atmosphere, and covers the whole 
island with perpetual verdure. In many 
parts, the grass and gardens look as green 
ks in England, a most refreshing sight to 
the traveller, arriving from the scorched-up 
plains of India. We went into the bazaar 
to purchase a few krisses, which are only to 
be met with here in any quantity, being 
worn by the natives of most of the islands 
in the Eastern Archipelago, and brought by 
the Bugis traders from Macassar, Celebes, 
Amboyna, &c. 

Being unable to speak a word of Chinese, 
or Malay, I should not have got on at all, 
without the assistance of the Doctor, who 
prevented the extortion they invariably 
practise upon strangers. They asked me 
ten dollars for what we got for three or 
four, a safe plan being to offer one-third of 
their price, or half, and they seldom let you 

go- 



18 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

Strolling along, we saw a Chinese funeral 
pass by. The coffin is made out of one 
solid piece of wood, of a light yellow colour, 
carved according to the means of the de- 
ceased, and carried on men's shoulders, 
without any covering, at rather a quick 
pace^ This was a very humble affair, as I 
saw since, in Canton, a funeral procession 
early one morning, which took five minutes 
to pass by, consisting of bands of music, 
roasted animals entire, pastry, fruits, &c., 
each carried separately, in a carved, gilt, 
sort of sedan-chair, mourners, priests, boys 
in fanciful dresses, and I don't remember 
half the rest. The music of one band was 
exactly like the Scotch bagpipes. I sup- 
pose this funeral was one of a man of rank, 
or fortune. 

Singapore is divided into the English, the 
Chinese, and the Malay towns. The Eng- 
lish district is laid out in squares, decorated 
with trees: the Chinese town is a busy part; 
the streets are wide, and the houses all 
uniform, covered with a yellow wash, giving 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. J 9 

them the appearance of stucco: arcades 
supported by pillars are in front, which 
oflfer good protection from the rain and 
sun. The internal appearance of each 
house is 'not so flattering as the outside 
might lead one to expect. I caught fre- 
quent glimpses, en passant^ of the crowded, 
filthy rooms, peculiar to the natives. 

Singapore is a free port, and a safe an- 
chorage at all seasons. The Grovernor of 
the " Straits Settlements" resides there. 
Situated at the extreme point of the Malay 
peninsula, it is of immense commercial and 
military importance, commanding the Straits 
of Malacca, the direct route from Bengal to 
China. 

In spite of the heat and marshy soil, it is 
an extremely salubrious spot, little subject 
to the diseases of tropical climates, so fatal 
to Europeans. Provisions are cheap, the 
market being well supplied with fish, 
poultry, fruit, and vegetables. Nuclea- 
gambir, or terra-japonica, is produced in 
large quantities throughout the island, for 



20 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

exportation. Sugar, pepper, atid nutmeg 
plantations are also of importance, and 
the produce of which forms a large item in 
the exports. 

Continuing our walk from the bazaar, we 
crossed over two bridges, the river running 
up some distance, but navigable only for 
small craft and boats, with which it is 
crowded. It becomes wider where it termi- 
nates in the sea, forming a most convenient 
basin and landing-place, for the innumerable 
native boats, of all shapes and sizes, plying 
for hire night and day, of which the " Sam- 
pan " is the most used by Europeans. It is 
very light and elegant in shape, is rowed by 
paddles, and carries latteen mat sails. After 
the uncouth Bombay " dinghy," it is quite 
delightful to fall in unexpectedly with such 
superior comforts. The hire of boats and 
cabs is very moderate. A one-horse cab 
for the whole day, one dollar, by law, and 
for less time, in proportion, the native 
running by the side of the horse, and leading 
him. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 21 

This is the place of transportation for 
convicts from India, of whom there are 
about 1,500, who, by making roads and 
other public works, have done much to im- 
prove the island. A gang of fifty passed by, 
with chains to their legs, looking very con* 
tentedly and nonchalant. They were all na- 
tives, and one was munching a large pine- 
apple as he dragged his chains along. This 
is the staple fruit for all classes, and food 
for many. It is more common and much 
cheaper than apples, or potatoes, at home, 
and in moderation is very wholesome and 
refreshing. Perhaps if indulged in to ex- 
cess it might bring on dysentery, which, I 
believe, arises much oftener from atmos- 
pheric causes in the tropics than from fruit. 

It is a common saying in the East that 
you can only taste pine-apple in perfection at 
Singapore^ and I found nothing more true ; 
its aroma scents the room most agreeably, 
its flavour is delicious, and, when cut, it fills 
the plate with juice. This fruit is generally 
eaten early in the morning, but is put on the 



22 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

table at every meal, and is seldom left un- 
touched. It is of a large size, and grows 
throughout the year all over the adjacent 
islands, without cultivation, often serving for 
hedges. In the bazaar one cost a quarter of 
a cent, or half a farthing. Ships can get them 
there at a dollar for four hundred; but, 
when they buy them from boats alongside, 
one hundred for a dollar is the price. 

Before the pine-apple, and esteemed 
amongst aU other fruits in the world as 
facilis princepSj is the " mangosteen," alluded 
to by the poet, Moore, a fruit peculiar to 
these parts and Java, being found nowhere 
else. It is contained in a thick covering of 
a dark crimson colour, the size and shape of 
an orange. This being cut open, exposes 
the fruit, detached from it, about the size of 
an egg, of the most delicate lily white, semi- 
transparent, divided into five or six separate 
quarters, one of which contains a stone, that 
is not always found. 

When the mangosteen is laid open, I 
think the contrast between the white fruit 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 23 

embedded in the thick, crimson, fleshy co* 
vering is the most strikingly beautiful speci- 
men of the edible vegetable kingdom I hav e 
ever seen. Its flavour is equal to its ap- 
pearance, unlike any other fruit, almost 
gelatinous, very delicate, and harmless in 
any quantity. The price is about a dollar 
a hundred ; sometimes they are not so plen- 
tiful, and are sent from Malacca and Penang., 
where they are abundant. The bananas are 
very fine ; guavas, the China orange, and 
most all other tropical fruits are common. 
The durian, about the size of a melon, full 
of seeds and pulp, having the strongest smell 
of garlic, asafoetida, and rotten eggs mixed 
together, with their taste somewhat modified, 
is much liked by the natives, and some 
Europeans fancy it. The smell nearly drove 
me from table. I tasted it out of curiosity. 
Almost all English vegetables thrive here, 
and are in common use. Turtle is found 
plentifully among the islands, and is to be 
had for one penny a pound. As we were to 
sail at midnight, I had only the afternoon to 



24 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

drive into the country and to see the jungle 
in the interior of the island. After following 
for three mi les a fine road, planted on each 
side with hedges of guavas, I reached Mont- 
gomery's sugar plantation, where the process 
of making sugar was in full operation. 

A very pretty stream of limpid water, 
with thick overhanging foliage, turned a 
large water-mill that put the whole machi- 
nery in motion. The sugar-canes just cut, 
were brought from the plantation opposite, 
and put between two powerful iron cylinders 
which expressed the juice so effectually that, 
when the canes fell through on the other 
side, they were as dry as a chip ; the juice ran 
along a pipe into a building close at hand, 
in which were six coppers with a commu- 
nication from one to the other. In these it 
was reduced by evaporation from boiling to 
to the proper consistence ; Chinamen, with 
large ladles constantly skimming it of impu- 
rities, and stirring up the liquid from one 
copper into the next, they all communi- 
cating from one to the other. When it had 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 25 

undergone sufficient boiling, it was run off 
by a copper pipe into earthenware pots 
holding about half-a-hundred weight, which 
were placed in large numbers under sheds, 
outside, for the sugar to dry in. 

All the men employed here are Chinese, 
who understand this branch well. On leav- 
ing the works, I saw on the main road a 
fracas between some natives who were en- 
deavouring to seize a Chinaman, and a 
Malay, holding a kriss in his hand, was 
rushing in amongst them. They passed on 
leading one man a prisoner, but I could learn 
no more about it ; neither did I care much 
to go near a crowd where the far-famed 
murderous Malay kriss was flourished about 
in the air. 

I heard in the town on my return that it 
is not at all an uncommon thing there for a 
Malay to " run a-muck," and quite recently 
one of these madmen had killed several peo- 
ple in the streets before he was shot down 
by the police, they having orders to that 
effect. I told my cabman, a Bengalee, to 

VOL. n. c 



26 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

drive on another mile, which made him 
stare, as we were now in the thickest of the 
jungle, the main road going right through 
it. He called my attention to a nutmeg- 
plantation on my right: I alighted, and 
gathered a few nutmegs. The trees are not 
large, and are planted at some distance from 
each other. Adjoining this were fields of 
sugar-cane, some of which I had just seen 
used. The betel-nut grew along the road- 
side very plentifully, and the hedges were 
full of a pink flower, not unlike the wild 
rose, giving them a very pretty effect. 

We were now upwards of four miles from 
the town, and the driver said that close by, 
a few days before, a Chinaman had caught 
a large tiger by putting a dog in a deep pit 
and covering it over with grass. The barking 
of the dog attracted the cautious beast to 
the spot, and, passing over the snare, he fell 
in and was shot the next morning at leisure, 
by some young men from the town whose only 
chance of tiger-shooting here is in this fashion, 
the jungle being too thick ever to dream of 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 27 

going out after them. They are very nume- 
rous and ferocious, great " man-eaters," for 
want of other prey on the island, and the 
number of people killed by them averages 
from three to four hundred a year, so that, 
in many directions, it is not safe to live more 
than four or five miles from the town, 
and many have given up their country 
villas on that account. It is difficult to 
remedy the evil, as there is a constant 
supply of tigers from the primeval forests of 
the peninsula of Malacca and Siam, and they 
swim across the narrow strait that sepa- 
rates the island from the mainland.* 

The tiger does not readily attack men in 
preference to animals, but once having 
killed a man, he is extremely dangerous, as 
he gets a relish for what he finds becomes 
so easily his prey. Otherwise, a tiger 
might pass a man without springing at 
him, provided he be not hungry, attacked, 
or interfered with. Orang-Outangs, arma- 

* A reward of 60 dollars is paid by Government for 
every tiger killed in the island. ThLb affords to many 
natives a lucrative occupation. 

c 2 



28 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

dillos, porcupines, &c., are common pets in 
houses. In the jungle, and in the interior, 
alligators, boas, cobras, with a host of other 
wild animals, are found, the natives fre- 
quently bringing them in for sale. The 
black panther of Java, so celebrated in 
Eugene Sue's " Wandering Jew," is also 
met with here. My cabman was getting 
anxious, and, not thinking it prudent to 
drive farther into the interior, I returned, 
rather late, and had no time to see the 
Chinese Temple, or Pagoda, said to be very 
handsome, or the nutmeg-plantation of 
Dr. Oxley, the finest in the island, con- 
taining 6,000 trees. 

The residence of the sultan of Johore, 
who ceded Singapore to the British, and to 
whom the adjacent kingdom of Johore be- 
longs, is situated near the burying-ground 
of the Malay princes. Another personage, 
the ex-rajah of Singapore, called the 
" Tomogong," which means in Malay, high- 
admiral, lives near the town. This chief 
held Singapore under the sultan, and is now 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 29 

a pensioner of the East India Company, who 
presented him lately with a sword of 
honour, for his assistance in putting down 
piracy in these seas, which rumour does 
not acquit him of being an entire stran- 
ger to. 

Having spent the evening at the doctor's, 
I left him, taking my boa constrictor in a 
basket down to the wharf, and hiring a 
Sampan boat, gave it to the man to carry. 
Passing under a lamp, he detected its con- 
tents, dropped it, and ran away as if he had 
been shot. Not understanding Malay, I 
couldn't tell him that it was dead; but he 
gained confidence when he saw me carry it 
into the boat without any concern. I ar- 
rived at midnight on board the " Charlotte 
Jane," and sailed, a few hours after, regret- 
ting sincerely that my stay was so short 
in this " El Dorado" of the east. 



30 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 



CHAPTER II. 

Sail through the Straits of Singapore — ^Intricate Navigation 
— Chinese Boat — ^The Ladrone Islands — ^The Lema Is- 
lands — Harbour of Hong Kong — ^A Busy Scene — Sampan 
Boats — Description of the Island — ^Victoria — The Com- 
pradore System — Climate — Robberies — Curious Form of 
Oath — ^The Court of Heaven — Chase of a Pirate — Fast 
Boats to Macao — Dangers of the Passage. 

At three a.m., we weighed, and pro- 
ceeded through the Straits of Singapore, for 
China. The opium-clipper, " Rob Roy," 
from Calcutta, soon followed us. We passed 
a couple of large Chinese junks, coasting 
along the island of Bintang, of which Rhio 
is the capital. The wind failing, we an- 
chored off the Straits of Rhio. 

At night, we stood through the narrow 
channel, called Middle Passage, between 
the rock of Pedro Branca and the islets of 
Point Romania. The night was dark, and 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 31 

the navigation among these smaU islands 
extremely intricate ; the land was distinctly 
seen only during the flashes of light- 
ning. The lead was kept going briskly, 
and the report of the soundings from the 
hand in the main chains, was listened to 
with breathless anxiety by the captain and 
* the crew. 

In a few hours, we got quite clear of this 
dangerous channel, and found ourselves 
safe in the open sea, flying along, with 
every studding-sail set before the south- 
west monsoon. 

After a pleasant passage of twelve days 
up the China Sea, being in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the Ladrones, we descried 
a Chinese fast-sailing, three-masted boat, 
bearing down upon us. The chief officer, 
who had been once attacked in these waters, 
considered the sail suspicious, and advised 
that arms should be got in readiness. The 
Captain said it was more likely to be a pUot- 
boat from Hong Kong, looking after ships 
outside, which opinion was soon confirmed 



32 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

by some half-a-dozen garrulous Chinamen 
jumping on board, and offering their services 
to take the ship into Hong Kong. 

On proving that they really were pilots, 
their services were accepted at once. We 
passed close to the group of Ladrones, so 
celebrated to this day for the intermina- 
ble nests of pirates they contain, and which 
they have done for centuries past. 

We next approached the Lema Islands, 
also the resort of these desperadoes, who, 
only a few weeks before our arrival, had 
been attacked and partly destroyed, by a 
steam frigate sent from Hong Kong, from 
which place they are not thirty miles dis- 
tant. 

As the steamer approached them, they 
opened their fire upon her, and kept it up 
for some time with great spirit, until they 
were routed and their vessels destroyed, 
when many escaped among the neigh- 
bouring islands. 

On the first of July, 1849, the " Char- 
lotte Jane," after a six weeks' pleasant 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 33 

passage from Bombay, cast anchor in the 
harbour of Hong Kong. Our stay there 
was to be very short, having merely to dis- 
charge the chests of opium, which formed 
part of the cargo, but which detained us five 
days. 

The harbour, several miles in extent, is 
surrounded on all sides by high hills, with 
the town of Victoria stretching along the 
shore on one side, and on the opposite 
coast, the Chinese town of Cowloon. About 
twenty merchant-ships were riding at an- 
chor in front of the town, from one quarter to 
half a mile from the shore. The " Hastings," 
74, and two steam frigates, composed the 
naval force, and, at the further extremity, 
are anchored the larg^ opium-receiving 
ships of the principal merchants, looking 
very much like hulks. 

Innumerable Chinese boats, from the 
stately junk down to the useful sampan, 
crowd the landing-places, where are also 
seen a number of " lorchas," a peculiar sort 
of vessel, from fifty to one hundred tons, 

c 3 



84 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

half Portuguese, and half Chinese rig and 
build. We were immediately, on our 
arrival, surrounded by a host of sampan 
boats, rowed and steered by women and 
children, the whole family generally pass- 
ing all their lives in their boats. The 
small fare of sixpence, and a few minutes' 
rowing and sailing, soon brought me to the 
wharf, and for the first time I trod upon the 
ground of the far-famed " Celestial Empire.'' 

The heat was most unbearable, and the 
streets being wide, with low houses on 
each side, render the walking out in the 
sun quite impossible without an umbrella, 
which most residents have, covered with 
white cloth. Victoria is within the tropics, 
about forty miles *rom Macao, and eighty 
from Canton. Its extent throughout is be- 
tween three and four miles, ]and its extreme 
breadth is about a quarter of a mile. 

Victoria is divided into three districts, 
east, west, and proper. The first is pro- 
perly a suburban district, although contain- 
ing many large mercantile houses, the race- 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 35 

course, some farms, and the Catholic and 
Protestant cemeteries. Victoria West is the 
only part intersected with streets, and having 
the appearance of a town. The mountain- 
ous ridges, on which streets and terraces are 
formed, rise at a great inclination from the 
sea; and behind these, at the distance of 
about half a mile, abruptly towers, to the 
height of 1,800 feet, the black rocky moun- 
tain, at the foot of which the town is built. 

Victoria Proper is almost entirely occu- 
pied by the garrison and civil government 
offices. The European and American popu- 
lation does not exceed 400, the Chinese popu- 
lation is estimated at 20,000, including those 
living on the water ; and there are besides 
200 Macao-born Portuguese. 

The garrison consists of 1,400 men, Eu- 
ropeans and Ceylon Rifles : the police force of 
200 men, partly Indians, partly Chinese and 
English. . They are armed with truncheons, 
cutlasses, or small rifles. 

The principal street, called the Queen's 
Road, extends the whole length of the town. 



36 A VOYAGE TO CHINA, 

In it are the principal offices of the mer- 
chants, banks, and shops, most of the last 
kept by Chinamen, but filled with all sorts of 
European goods. This street terminates in 
the Chinese town, where a crowded native 
population, in narrow dirty streets, are the 
only peculiarities to be met with. 

House-rent is very dear at Hong Kong, but 
living is cheap, the market being well sup- 
plied with meat, poultry, game, fish, fruit, 
and vegetables. The system of every Euro- 
pean resident having a " Compradore," or 
head-steward, to look after his household, and 
purchase every thing he requires, prevents 
him from reaping the benefit of low prices, 
the compradore generally adding a good per 
centage for himself. 

Ignorance of the Chinese language, and 
the oppressive heat of the climate, are cer- 
tainly very strong reasons in favour of the 
" compradore " system, however it may add 
to the expenses of housekeeping. This offi- 
cial engages all the other servants, superin- 
tends them, and holds himself responsible for 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 37 

their honesty, making good any thing that 
may be lost, or abstracted by any of them : 
that is a great advantage. 

A few carriages may be seen about the 
streets, but most people keep a Chinese 
sedan-chair, carried by two coolies ; this is 
always in readiness before the door, the same 
as the palanquin and bearers in india. It 
is astonishing how far two coolies will con- 
vey a man, at the rate of four or five miles 
an hour in the heat of the sun. These 
chairs are adorned with Chinese blinds and 
paintings, and have a very pretty appear- 
ance. 

The summer at Victoria is very sultry and 
enervating, the thermometer often standing 
at 90 degrees, in the shade. Sudden gusts 
from off the mountains give a few minutes* 
relief to the exhausted European. Ice is 
to be had at a moderate price, and punkahs 
are a necessary of life. During the winter 
months, the sun has power in the day-time, 
but in the evening, fires are absolutely 
required, and all the Louses have proper 
fire-places for the purpose. 



38 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

There are a few pretty rides around the 
town, but not of any extent. Many eques- 
trians may be seen in the evening, but few 
venture so far as the interior, or the other 
side of the island, inhabited entirely by 
natives, and where, not long since, two 
officers of the garrison were murdered and 
robbed in the broad day, by a mob of mis- 
creants, who pleaded, of course, the usual 
Chinese pretext for such occurrences, that 
the Fan-quis insulted their women. This, 
to anybody who has seen anything of 
China, must appear at once false, because 
no women are ever seen out of doors but 
the very commonest of the people, and 
these are constantly in the habit of mixing 
with Europeans without reserve. Besides, 
the character of these two officers was that 
of steady, quiet men, who were not at all 
likely to act with any indiscretion towards 
the natives, whose habits they were well 
acquainted with; and their gold watches, 
&c., being taken from them, explains well 
enough from what motives the crime arose. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 39 

Great difficulty has existed at Hong Kong 
to find a proper form of oath to administer 
to Chinese in our courts of justice. In 
Chinese courts of law and judgment, where 
the character of the people is fully under- 
stood, no oath whatever is administered to 
witnesses. In order, however, to meet the 
requirements of English law, an attempt 
has been made to introduce a species of 
Chinese oath in our various courts. 

The first form practised here was the cut- 
ting off of a live cock's or fowl's head. A 
considerable perquisite by this system was 
afforded to the court-keeper, who unscrupu- 
lously devoured the decapitated bodies. A 
cheaper form of oath consists in breaking a 
basin into pieces, intending thereby to sym- 
bolize how anxious is the swearer, (?) that 
if he does not tell the truth his body shall 
be as unceremoniously smashed into its 
original dust. To those who fancy that 
they possess no more soul than a piece of 
potter's ware, this method of swearing is 
doubtless highly sensible and appropriate, 



40 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

and it was probably under the impression 
that the Chinese entertain such feelings that 
Lord Brougham was induced to counten- 
ance this form of oath, when made at an 
examination in the House of Lords. 

The form of oath at present in use is 
considerably cheaper in practice than either 
of the foregoing ; printed forms on sheets of 
yellow paper, about eight inches by six, are 
kept at hand by the interpreters. If the 
wiLss can write, he fiUs in the blanks him- 
self, or the interpreter will do it for him, to 
the effect that " so and so" is now in court 
for " such and such a purpose," that he will 
" speak the truth, the whole truth, and no- 
thing but the truth," without fear or pre- 
varication. But, instead of finishing by 
asking his God (his gods, or his ancestors) 
to help him in his resolve, a V Anglaise^ the 
form finishes by simply stating that the 
" divine heaven," or, as the Chinese under- 
stand it, ** court of heaven," " witnesses 
this attestation/' * * ♦ 

The paper, when fiUed in and read over to 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 41 

the swearer, is then burned by the flame of 
a lamp. The particular *' gods many and 
lords many" who constitute the said court 
of heaven it is presumed vary in idea, ac- 
cording to the theocratic knowledge of the 
swearer, but as it is a notorious fact that if 
after daysof incessant worship, a god, or idol, 
takes no (fancied) notice of his Chinese wor- 
shipper's application, then he, the said idol, 
is remorsely battered and burned, sans cSrd- 
monie. It only follows, as a natural conse- 
quence, that the supposed powers of each 
god being of a doubtful nature, the whole 
court as a body obtain in anticipation only 
a small degree of respect, or fear, and whole 
reams of oath-paper may be burned without 
adding the sUghtest value to any evidence. 

This form of oath, but on an extended 
scale, is said, however, to be practised in 
temples at Nankin, and it appears that there 
are many educated Chinese who would not 
tell an untruth after burning the paper, but 
that the bulk of those who do so care little 
for the obligation it is desirous should be 



42 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

obtained ; and, as a general axiom, the cus- 
tom may be looked upon as useless* In 
Chinese courts, the truth (?) is elicited only 
by squeezing (torturing), and by the inflic- 
tion of the bamboo. 

Piracy is not of unfrequent occurrence, 
even in the harbour, within musket-shot of 
our men of war. A few months before I 
left China, a Ladrone pirate sailed into the 
harbour during a dark night, boarded a large 
junk, at anchor, battened down the hatches 
with the crew beneath, and, cutting the cable, 
towed her out to sea. 

The alarm was given to the guard-ship by 
one of the junk's crew who had swum ashore, 
and brought information to the police. The 
" Amazon" frigate immediately manned and 
armed two boats, with marines, to go 
in pursuit of the pirate, which they could 
not come up with near enough for their fire 
to take efiect, and they returned after a long 
chase into port. 

Every day fast-boats sail from Hong Kong 
to Macao, a distance of forty miles, and 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 43 

there being no steamer for several days, I 
determined upon going across in a fast-boat, 
where there is a separate cabin for any 
European, the natives all living together. 
But the danger of pirates attacking these 
boats was so great, that I was dissuaded 
from going at all. 

The chances of being attacked when there 
is a European on board are almost certain, 
as the pirates find it out by their spies on 
land, and the natives seldom travelling with 
much money or valuables, are not so likely 
to be molested. There is seldom* a week 
without some attack taking place upon fish- 
ing-boats, or passage-boats, in these waters. 
The numerous islands, creeks, and bays are 
most favourable for the hiding-places of 
these rovers, who, " hydra-headed," appear 
again as fast as they are destroyed. 

The unhealthy reputation which Hong- 
Kong had so justly acquired during the first 
years of our occupation, when the troops 
were so reduced by fever that they were 
obliged to be removed on board the ships in 



44 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

harbour, as the only means of saving those 
who remained, has now undergone an entire 
change. Proper drainage has been attended 
to, nuisances causing malaria have been 
removed by fresh police regulations, and 
the barracks and residences of the settlers, 
rendered more healthy than they were at an 
earlier period, when the neglect of these 
things engendered endemic fever, of the 
most rapid and fatal kind. Advices just 
received, however, state the mortality among 
our soldiers quartered there to have been 
recently very great, owing, doubtless, to the 
unhealthy situation of the barracks, usually 
the case in the East. The general health of 
Hong Kong being good, whUst such a fear- 
ful mortality is decimating our European 
troops in theiy barracks, clearly proves the 
cause to be endemic^ and easily remedied by 
removing the fons et origo mail. But so 
long as Government will not consult medical 
authorities in the choice of locality for bar- 
racks and other public buildings intended for 
the reception of large bodies of men, either 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 45 

it home or abroad, so long will such blun- 
lers as we see in the present case be con- 
stantly committed, the expense the country 
s put to by the loss of English soldiers in 
:he East being a minor evil, when compared 
writh the reckless, unnecessary sacrifice of 
liuman life. 

At present, the climate of Victoria is 
found to be not more unwholesome than 
:)ther stations in the same range of latitude. 
The winds, for nearly three-fourths of the 
jrear, prevail from the eastward, veering 
northerly in the latter and former parts. 
It is during the latter part only of the south- 
west monsoon that the southerly and west- 
erly breezes are of any consequence. A frost 
in Victoria is an especial curiosity, and snow 
has not yet been seen. 

The dryest months of the year are Decem- 
ber, January, and February. In March, 
heavy rains are generally experienced, of 
which there is a partial cessation in the 
following month ; but the rainy seasons are 
very uncertain and irregular, scarcely two 
years together being alike as to their 



46 A VOYAGE TO CHINA, 

commencement and duration. The month 
of August is, however, regularly the wettest 
of the whole. 

The thermometer sometimes rises in the 
shade to 90 degrees of Fahrenheit, very 
rarely to 93 degrees. But the average 
summer heat is from 78 to 88 degrees. The 
month of July, of which I had a specimen, 
is the hottest and most trying of all. In 
the winter season, the thermometer is seldom 
lower than 53 degrees, with a continuation of 
northerly winds. It sometimes falls during 
the night to 45 degrees, but remaining so 
only for a few hours, and probably succeeded 
on the following noon by a temperature of 
85 degrees. 

The principal causes of sickness in Vic- 
toria, are such as would be incidental in 
India, or any place within the influence 
of those enervating effects which tropical 
climates produce upon the nervous system of 
Europeans, and which render the body more 
than ordinarily susceptible of disease. To 
persons of weakly constitution, the sudden 
fluctuations of climate just alluded to, ought 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 47 

to be well guarded against. Flannel worn 
next to the skin, a generous diet, and the 
moderate use of stimulants, are the best 
preservatives. 

In the summer months, exposure without 
exercise to the direct rays of the sun, has a 
very injurious effect. With exercise, and 
the head well protected, the danger is not 
so great. The sickly character which this 
new settlement had earned for itself, origi- 
nated from causes which in Victoria are now 
nearly eradicated. 

The great cause of sickness, in the early 
period of our occupation, arose from a resi- 
dence in badly-built houses, with floors 
barely removed from the damp earth ; often- 
times within the influence of the miasma 
arising from marshes, or the noxious gases 
of newly tumed-up earth. 

The churches, post-office, barracks, and 
other public buildings, are very creditable. 
The club-house is on an extensive scale, and, 
being open to visitors, with a proper intro- 
duction, is perhaps the cause of the little 



48 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

want of hotels in Victoria ; the only one in 
the town having generally a deserted appear- 
ance. Boating is a favourite amusement. 
An annual regatta and ball are held, — most 
people attending and entering boats. 

The principal Canton merchants have a 
house and offices at Hong Kong, causing a 
double expense of servants, clerks, rent, &c., 
without adequate commercial advantages; 
this settlement not having succeeded as it 
was anticipated, in drawing towards it the 
principal trade and native merchants from 
Canton, which is still as much as ever the 
emporium of commerce to Southern China. 
Many merchants think seriously of residing 
either at one place or the other, and for 
business purposes the factories have cer- 
tainly many advantages over Hong Kong. 
An opposition steamer runs two or three times 
a week from Victoria to Canton, performing 
the distance of eighty miles in ten or twelve 
hours, often calling at Macao, both on going 
and returning. The fare is eight dollars ; 
with a good table at fixed prices. A passage 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 49 

by the steamer is the only safe way of per- 
forming the voyage. Sailing-boats take pas- 
sengers for two dollars ; but they may be two 
days, and are liable to attacks. A post-boat, 

pulled by thirty men, carries the mail every 
day at a rapid pa^e. 

There is a monthly steam communication 
between China and England by the line of 
steamers, vi4 Suez, the average time re- 
quired being fifty-five days. English money, 
rupees, and Spanish dollars are all current 
here, this last being generally estimated at 
four shillings. Amongst the natives, Chinese 
cash^ is also in circulation. Chinese fancy 
articles are dearer than at Canton, where 
there is also a greater choice. In passing 
through a gentleman's flower-garden in front 
of his house, I saw a greater number of 
beautiful large butterflies, flying about from 

• The only coin made by the Chinese, composed of tu- 
ten-ag and copper, 100 of which are equal to one tael. 
They call it Le, It has a square hole in the centre for the 
convenience of being strung on a twine, and is cast^ not 
struck with a die. It is a great article of commerce, ship- 
loads of cash being exported to the different islands of the 
Eastern Archipelago. 

VOL. n. D 



50 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

flower to flower, that I have since met with 
during all my stay in China. 

Snakes are sometimes found ; but there 
does not appear to be any wild animals on 
the island. Hong Kong is a dull place for a 
stranger to remain in more than a few days, 
being neither Chinese nor English, but a 
strange admixture of both with a strong 
tinge of Malays and Portuguese. I was not 
sorry to find, on the sixth day after our 

> 

arrival, that a pilot had come on board to 
take us up to Whampoa. Having weighed 
anchor at eleven with a fine breeze, we stood 
out of the harbour. 

Canton, Whampoa, Hong Kong, and Ma^- 
cao, are the only places which the visitor to 
southern China can possibly have access to. 
Of these. Canton, the capital, and Whampoa, 
the port of Canton, belong to the Chinese, 
Hong Kong to the British, and Macao to the 
Portuguese. Each of these places difiering 
entirely in features, inhabitants, laws, go- 
vernment, and customs, from each other, 
must, of course, be objects of great interest to 



A VOYAGE TO CHIKA. 51 

the temporary resident in China. They are 
all easily reached in a day by means of the 
steamers running at stated times, which is 
the only safe way of travelling in this coun- 
try, the classic ground of piracy. 

Numerous fast-sailing country-boats ply 
between all the ports at much less fares, but 
no European, who has any regard for his 
life, should venture by them, as the very 
fact of his being a passenger, often causes 
them to be attacked and plundered. 



D 2 



52 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 



CHAPTER III. 

Excursion from Victoria to Whampoa — The River Tigris 
— Chow-chow water — Anson's Bay — The Bogue Forts 
— Permission to pass them — The Bar Pagoda — ^Whampoa 
Reach — Chops, or River Residences — Ships of Various 
Nations — Aquatic Society — Bamboo and New Towns 
— ^Variety of Trades — Situation of Bamboo Town — Public 
Billiard-Table — Oriental Hospitality — ^Amoon's Dry 
Dock — ^The Reverend Mr. Lomas — French Island — 
Murdered Englishmen — Extensive Paddy-fields — Malaria 
— The Whampoa Boatmen — The Boats described — ^Dan- 
ger of Pirates— Definition of Chinese Words — Fanqui, or 
Foreign Devil. 

The excursion from Victoria to Whampoa 
is extremely interesting. The entrance to 
the river Tigris, or Pearl river, is some fif- 
teen miles broad, with high hills on each 
side, and innumerable bays and creeks, with 
a few fishermen's huts, and their boats at 
anchor near the shore. We pass by the 
island of Lintin, notorious in the annals of 
opium-smuggling as the great rendezvous 
of the opium ships. 

We were sailing with all studding-sails 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA, 53 

set at the rate of ten knots an hour, when 
suddenly the ship lost steerage- way, and was 
turned almost round, to the great alarm of 
the pilot, who ordered the men to let go the 
anchor. This was all occasioned by being 
caught in "Chowchow" water, a phenomenon 
peculiar to this river, caused by strong 
eddies arising from the numerous islands 
and counter-currents, the force of which 
may be well imagined, when a ship going 
ten knots with a strong breeze, is unable to 
steer, and runs the risk of being driven on 
shore- The order of the pilot was not 
obeyed; and, after some time, we resumed 
our course. 

On the right, is Anson's Bay, called after 
that celebrated commander, whose ship, the 
Centurion, anchored there. A large fleet of 
war-junks was lying there, without any very 
fixed object in view, as I saw them for 
months at the same place, at a time when 
the river and coast were so infested with 
pirates that nobody could venture in any 
thing but a steamer. 



54 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

We soon came in sight of the Bocca Ti- 
gris and celebrated Bogue Forts. Here the 
river suddenly becomes narrower^ being 
about two miles across. Tiger Island is on 
the left, and on both sides the hills are co- 
vered with forts, " a-la-Chinoise,'' which con- 
sist of a thick granite wall, not very high, 
with enormous loop-holes for the cannon^ 
that are generally hidden from view by two 
folding-doors. 

These fortifications follow the hregulari- 
ties of the hills on which they are built, and 
seem to be kept in good order; but not a 
soldier is ever seen near them ; no flags nor 
other insignia of war would lead one to sup- 
pose that they are occupied. 

A Mandarin lives on shore at this spot, and 
all ships must send a boat for the " chop,'' 
or permit, to pass the forts, which is always 
granted. This document, in Chinese, gives 
a description of the ship, and has a very 
official appearance. The sides of the river 
now assume a more cultivated aspect Exten- 
sive plantations of sugar-cane, paddy-fields, 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 55 

and fruit trees, with villages interspersed, 
meet the eye, and the landscape improves as 
you advance towards the Bar Pagoda, a 
beautiful pillar on the hills opposite the 
second bar. This pagoda, more, than 120 
feet high, is very similar to the other two 
between Whampoa and Canton. Large ships 
ate obliged to anchor here, as they can only 
cross the bar at the top of the tide . 

A few miles beyond this is the first bar, 
which being got over, the vessel soon arrives 
in Whampoa reach, a broad part of the 
river, with excellent anchorage, at least three 
miles in extent. This is the port of Canton, 
no vessels being allowed to go beyond it, 
excepting native craft, and a few European 
smsdl coasters. 

Beifore the war, and in the Company's 
time, Whampoa was the only place in China 
where ship& could load ; and, when the fleet 
was there at anchor, was rather a gay place. 
At present, no European is allowed to live 
on shore, but all the resident English and 
Americans reside in a " chop," which is like 



56 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

the hull of a small vessel, with rooms in its 
centre space, and a platform above for the 
inmates to enjoy the cool air. The servants 
live in the head, where the kitchen and other 
offices are situated. These "chops" are 
strongly moored, and painted white and green 
very tastily, each having the indispensable 
appendage of a four-oared gig alongside the 
steps, and a Chinese crew lying about, gene- 
rally asleep, but ready at a moment's call. 

A residence in a large chop is perhaps 
preferable to a house in this hot country, 
there being generally a light air on the water, 
and the security from thieves is also an ad- 
vantage. Several medical men, ship-chand- 
lers, the Consular Agent, who is the chief 
magistrate, and others, reside in " chops." 

From fifty to eighty ships are to be found 
at anchor in the reach, most of them 
English, next American, and Dutch, with a 
few French, Hamburgh, or Prussian. Their 
stay is from one to three months, to com- 
plete their cargoes, there being a constant 
succession of ships leaving and fresh arri- 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 57 

vals. Opium-clippers from the coast are 
here at all times of the year. During the 
winter months, the amount of shipping de- 
creases considerably. The society of Wham- 
poa is exclusively of an aquatic character, 
being confined to the visiting amongst the 
shipping and " chops," but it is not the less 
agreeable : an English brig- of- war and a war- 
steamer, also an American man-of-war are 
stationed here. The gentlemen of Canton 
frequently spend the Sunday amongst their 
shipping acquaintances, or when they wish 
for a little change of air and scenery from 
the crowded and sultry factories. 

The town of Whampoa is built on both 
sides of the river : that on the left as you 
ascend, called Bamboo Town, is by far the more 
ancient of the two. Higher up, on the op- 
posite side, is New Town, much better built, 
and, beyond that, on the same side, is Wham- 
poa Proper, being the original Chinese vil- 
lage. This extends inland to the Native 
Town, where it is not safe for Europeans to 
venture. Bamboo Town, so called from its 

D 3 



58 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

being built on the water, the houses haviog 
for their foundation naerely bamboos driven 
into the river, which runs underneath each, 
extends parallel with the water side about 
a mile and a half. The town is composed of 
one narrow main street, paved with granite, 
and shops on both sides for supplying Euro- 
peans with every thing. Carpenters, trunk- 
makers, 4e^l^rs in fancy goods, painters, 
tailors, and shoemakers, are the most nume- 
rous. Fruit shops, and shops for baked meats 
and poultry, eaten by the Chinese, emit an 
odour not very pleasant. 

The street, not more than five feet wide, 
is crowded with almost naked coolies and 
mechanics, who are constantly jostling 
against you; the shopkeepers, standing at 
their doors, invite you in, or speak in a 
friendly way, many having as sign-boards 
some English name, as Good Tom, Old Jack, 
&c., to entice people to enter. With the 
exception of trunks and carpenter's work, 
things are dearer and inferior to the Cauton 
market. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 59 

Bamboo Town id sitaated on Dane's Island, 
where there are some pleasant promenades, 
and the people all over it are so accustomed 
to Europtons, that it is the only place where 
they can walk with safety. Sailors at 
Whampoa are not allowed to go on shore at 
all, to avoid any quarrel, or collision, with 
Chinamen, which, when they become intoxi- 
cated with " Sam-shu," a native liquor, 
distilled from rice, is sure to happen. 

A little farther up, on the same side, is a 
public billiard-table and bowling-ground, 
kept by Chinamen. The marker is very ex- 
pert, but the table is not true, and the light 
at night deficient. With all this the prices 
are too high. The boatmen call it the "play- 
house,'* which is not very inappropriate, it 
being the only place of diversion for the 
aquatic residents here. At night, a little 
fleet of sampaais may be seen waiting at the 
stairs for their respective owners. 

New Town, situated on the opposite side, 
about a mile higher up, is a much better built 
place j but not near so bustling or Chinese- 



60 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

looking as Bamboo Town, Here also the 
row of houses facing the water are 
built upon high bamboos over the river, to 
avoid ground-rent. Most of the washer- 
women and compradores live here. 

Walking in the town is safe, but no fur- 
ther. All those people getting their living 
by serving us, are uncommonly civil, ask us 
in to take tea and sweetmeats, and it is the 
custom for captains and their friends to call 
on the " compradore" to tiffen, or take wine. 

Many of these residents have a nice room, 
with an English table and chairs, are always 
glad to see you, and get fried ham and eggs, 
roast pigeons, teal, or snipes ready in a few 
minutes, and put port wine, claret, or brandy 
on the table in decanters, all gratuitously, 
and with the greatest ease and affability of 
manner. 

Above New Town is Amoon's dry dock, 
where ships can undergo repairs to any ex- 
tent, at a fair price. Boats and small 
schooners are built there, and a commodious 
Bethel ship, built by a general subscription 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 61 

amongst the shipping and Canton merchants, 

will soon be launched. At present, service 

• 

is performed by the Kevd. Mr. Lomas, on 
Sunday mornings, in ships that are willing 
to " rig a church," of which due notice is 
sent round to the fleet. I formed one of his 
congregation frequently, and never heard so 
superior a man on board ship in any 
country. 

Opposite New Town is French Island, 
upon some parts of which it is safe to walk, 
and the view from the hill on the border of 
the river is extremely beautiful, extending 
nearly as far as Canton. This island is the 
burying-ground of Europeans from time 
immemorial, as the numerous monuments 
erected to the old East India Company's 
officers who have died in China, prove. All 
Europeans dying in Canton, must be interred 
here, according to the last treaty. Dane's 
Island is the burying-place for sailors, or 
those who cannot afford to pay for the 
ground. 

The unfinished tombs of the five unfor- 



62 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

tunate gentlemen murdered with great bar- 
barity three years ago, whilst walking quietly 
in the country, a few miles above Canton, is 
the most remarkable object here. Why 
these tombs are still left in an unfinished 
state, it is not easy to explain. The num- 
ber of deaths from drowning in the river 
almost equals all the others. The Parsees 
and other Hindoos must also be buried 
here. 

Below Whampoa, the river branches off 
into two distinct wide channels, the other 
branch being called Blenheim Keach. Nearly 
all the *' country ships" from Bombay and 
Calcutta lie here, and some English ships 
prefer it as being more quiet, few native 
craft passing through it, and it is considered 
more healthy, the river-sides being free from 
paddy-fields. These paddy-fields on each 
side of Whampoa Reach render ague very 
prevalent amongst the residents, at the sea- 
sons when the paddy is cut, the decom- 
position of the vegetable " debris'^ proving a 
fertile source of malaria. On board the ships, 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 63 

few escape an attack, but it is generally of a 
mild form, and quickly yields to quinine, 
taking care to avoid the effects of the night- 
air, which also causes dysentery and fevers. 

I only saw one case of Asiatic cholera, 
but heard of a few others which had proved 
fatal. By avoiding too much exposure to 
the sun and night air, I consider Whampoa, 
with the exception of its peculiar endemic, 
ague, a tolerably healthy place for Europeans, 
and this is proved by the settlers there. The 
natives appear to be a strong, well-condi- 
tioned people, but a great number are deeply 
marked with the small-pox ; to these, the sig- 
nificant sobriquet of *' chop-dollar" face is 
given. 

The Whampoa boatmen, or sampan men, 
are a distinct race, living all their lives 
on the water, in their sampans. They are 
generally married, and have families, every 
member of which is of use in the boat. 
The wife steers with the long steer oar ; if 
she has an infant, it is tied to her back with 
cloths during the entire day. The husband, 
sons, and daughters, all sit in the bows, on 



64 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

little stools, about four inches high, and 
pull from two to four oars, according to the 
price paid. Little children, unable to 
pull, play about in the stem sheets, with a 
large painted gourd tied to their backs, as 
a life-buoy, in case of their falling over- 
board. 

The boat, built of pine, is divided into 
three parts : the middle is set apart for the 
hirer, where he can stretch himself out on 
pillows, or have a nice back seat to recline 
against, with lockers on each side^ Behind 
is the " joss " house, for the gods and reli- 
gious rites. The stem is occupied by the 
family : the rowers all are in the bows. 
Three separate bamboo-coverings, sliding 
one over the other, enable you to cover, 
entirely or partially, the boat, as may 
be required, to keep out the sun or rain. 
There are Venetian blinds on each side, 
and, at night, a level planking can be laid 
down over all, to sleep on. 

These boats carry two or three masts, 
with a latteen mat sail to each, and then a 
rudder is shipped, instead of the steer oar. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 65 

Every boat has half-a-dozen long bamboo 
spears along the gunwale, and a couple of 
old English muskets, always loaded, besides 
a box full of heavy stones, for defence 
against Ladrones, who infest this river, and 
often attack boats in the open day. 

At night, many sampans will not venture 
from one reach to the other. The pirates 
carry off the wives or daughters of the 
boatman, or plunder him of all he possesses. 
Each ship is required to employ a sampan, 
which remains constantly alongside, and is 
always ready at a moment's notice. The 
charge is ten dollars a month for a crew of 
four, who find themselves : for each trip to 
Canton, they receive an extra dollar. 
These men are honest, very civil and 
obliging, have great intelligence, and one 
or two of the crew speak Chinese English, 
which is peculiar to this river, and very 
amusing to new comers. 

Many Portuguese words are Anglicized, 
and, with this sort of jargon, all intercourse 
between Englishmen and the natives takes 
place. For instance, the Chinese, not being 



66 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

able to pronounce the word "business," call 
it "bigeon," which has degenerated into 
"pioeon," so that this word is in constant use 
amongst them. A Chinaman will tell you, 
** it is not my pigeon :"- — I no savez that 
" pigeon !' — " I made no good pigeon." — 
"What pigeon you want done ?'&c. Theword 
" savez " is invariably used for ** know,'' — 
" masqui " for " never mind," — " catch " 
for obtain, get, or procure: as, " I no can 
catchee any fruit, or coals." " Can catch " 
means " I can get you some." — " can " and 
" no can," without the pronoun, are in 
constant use. " Chin-chin," a Chinese word 
for how do you do, is often used, even by 
Europeans, who, in sending a message, say, 
" give my chin-chin to Mr. So-and-So," &c. 
Every boatman is called " Sam," never 
by his own name. " Chow-chow," the 
Chinese for food, or meals, is in common 
use. As in this phrase: — '* Sam, Vvhen you 
have catchee chow-chow, I want you chop- 
chop" (quickly). This double form of word, 
in the Chinese language, occurs often, 
as " man-man, stop !" &c. " Wylow," 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 67 

" begone," and " quisi " man, meaning 
robber, pirate, or bad man, are terms they 
do not like applied to them. Some few 
have acquired a tolerable facility of speak- 
ing English, but preserve the above-named 
style of idioms. The term " fan-qui," 
which means literally, "foreign devil," I have 
been assured by intelligent Chinese, is not 
always applied to Europeans with a bad 
intention, that word signifying stranger, or 
foreigner, also. 

But I can scarcely give credit to this 
information, since every Chinese mother, as I 
have elsewhere been informed, in order to 
inspire terror into a naughty child, has only 
to threaten to give him, or her, as the case 
may be, to the " Fanqui," when the little 
" Celestial," in dread of so awful a fate as 
that of being delivered over to ** the White 
Devil," — ^instantly becomes quiet and sub- 
missive, and clings to her in fear and trem- 
bling. In the streets of Canton, I have been 
more than once saluted with the sot-fanqui, 
or " kill the foreign devil :" then there is no 
mistaking the sense it i^ used in. 



68 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Infinity of Boats on the Pearl river — ^Nature of their Car- 
goes — The Idol Joss — Esang, or Doctor — ^The Kitchen 
on Board, and other Appointments — Pirates' Jnnks — 
The Mandarin-Boat described — Attack on the May- 
Flower Cutter — The Owner badly wounded — ^No Steps 
taken by the British Government to Punish the Perpetra- 
tors — Traffic in Opium — Passage-boats to Hong-Kong, 
Macao, Canton — Diversified River Scene — Order on the 
Canton River — ^The Duck-boat — ^Whampoa Washerwo- 
men — Their Interesting Appearance — ^Their Gratitude to 
their Customers —Trading with the Sailors — Prices of the 
various Articles of Dress — Samshu, an intoxicating 
Liquor — Bathing in China — Instructions given by the 
Consul to Masters of British Merchant Vessels arriving 
at Whampoa. 

Probably no river in the world offers 
such an endless variety of boats, of all 
shapes and sizes, as the Pearl river, and 
watching them pass constantly up and 
down is the most interesting sight, of which 
the resident at Whampoa never tires. The 
enormous junk of one thousand tons and 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 69 

upwards must anchor here, to be squeezed 
by Mandarins for import duties. I often 
went on board to visit them, as they just 
arrived from Siam, Cochin-China, Java, and 
other islands. 

The decks are encumbered with tigers'- 
skins, tigers'-bones, deer-horns, parrots, ava- 
devats, b^che-de-raer, sharks'-fins, elephants'- 
teeth, and all sorts of produce suited to the 
Chinese. The smell of skins and bones, from 
animals recently killed, is very strong. 

In the state-cabin, the Idol Joss is seated, 
with gilt ornaments and lamps burning all 
around. About the after part are a number 
of little cabins, more like closets, in many of 
which a fat Chinaman is generally fast asleep, 
the place being just big enough to hold him. 
The crew number from thirty to forty 
strong-looking men, with no clothing but 
the coarse wide nankeen trowers, tied round 
at the hips. They are all very civil, and, on 
learning that I was an " Esang," or doctor, 
some with slight wounds, covered with a 
dark ointment, often came to consult me ; I 



70 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

generally ordered them to continue the 
applications as before, 'which 1 have always 
found they will do, even if I supplied them 
with any proper remedies. They will 
consult you, but have no faith in any but 
their own " Esangs," who are as ignorant of 
surgery as it is possible to be. 

The kitchen forms a principal item in 
all Chinese vessels; many men appear 
constantly devoted to this department, and 
numbers of dishes are always in prepr ration. 
They carry many guns from six to twelve 
pounders, always ready loaded. Large 
heavy spears of all sorts and shapes, are 
carefully placed around the masts and along 
the bulwarks and stem, ready for immediate 
use against the swarms of pirates who infest 
these seas and rivers. After the captain, 
all the men seem equal; and, when the 
captain is ashore, there is no difference 
amongst the crew. I have heard that most 
of them have a share in the adventure. 

I have seen the Chinese Junk in London, 
but it has nothing like the interesting 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 7 1 

appearance of a genuine loaded one, just 
arriving in port with its cargo and crew, 
all "aw natureV^ 

There are many much smaller, such as the 
salt junks, generally having two masts, and 
those employed on short coasting voyages. 
The pirate-junks, being in all respects like 
these, go up and down the rivers continually, 
unmolested and undetected. They carry a 
number of guns, which, like the real trading 
junks, they say of course are to protect 
themselves against pirates, and who can tell 
the diflference ? 

The Mandarin-boat, or " Smug-boat," as 
it is often called by the natives, is perhaps 
the most elegant thing that floats. Varying 
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty 
feet in length, and about fifteen in breadth, 
with a narrow blue or red border over the 
yellow wood it is built of ; it is manned by 
from fifty to eighty rowers, thirty on each 
side being very common. These reach from 
the stern right up to the stem, and generally 
pull a very easy, leisurely stroke. They are 



72 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

naked, with the exception of the wide trou- 
sers, and sometimes wear painted bamboo- 
pointed hats, which are generally piled up on 
deck. 

The Mandarin-boats have three masts, on 
each of which is an enormous mat sail, cut like 
abutterfly's wing, the whole being beautifully 
clean and neat. When the mandarin is on 
board, this sail is decorated with numerous 
flags of a triangular shape. These boats are 
heavily armed, carrying a great gun in the 
bows, and several on each side, besides gin- 
gals, a sort of blunderbuss, fixed all along 
the gunwales ; spears, swords, &c. are placed 
in every direction, and the sides have often 
a row of large bamboo shields reaching fore 
and aft. 

Most of them carry from seventy to one 
hundred men. Two or more are constantly 
employed in striking the gongs on the stem, 
to salute other boats, or in honour of the 
Joss, at diflferent times of the day, when 
crackers are also let ofi: Every morning and 
evening the noise from the gongs and all the 



A VOYAGE TO qniNA. 73 

crackers discharged from the various craft 
on the river is quite deafening. 

The occupation of the mandarin-boat is 
rather contradictory. Intended for the chase 
of smugglers, it is most frequently employed 
at nothing else for its noble owner : opium, 
tea, sugar, and silk, are the articles they most 
frequently carry to evade the duties they are 
designed to collect. They are also intended 
to put down piracy, but are oftener found 
to connive at that calling themselves. 

The attack on the May Flower cutter of 
seventy tons, well armed, in broad day, three 
miles below Whampoa, by one of these "cen- 
tipede" boats, as Europeans call them, when 
Mr. Bellamy, the owner, being shot through 
both legs, the crew jumped into the water to 
save themselves, and the cutter was plun- 
dered and then set fire to, was one instance 
which occurred during my stay at Whampoa. 
Going down the river that night in the 
steamer, I saw the vessel burning to the 
water's edge, and we were hailed by a man- 
of-war's boat, having the captain of the steam 

VOL II. E 



74 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

frigate on board, who ordered our steamer 
to look after the centipede-boat, and make 
her a prize, for which purpose the arms were 
got on deck. We, however, saw nothing of 
her, she being probably snugly anchored in 
some of the creeks, with which the river 
abounds. 

No notice was ever taken by our Govern- 
ment authorities at Canton of this atrocious 
act of piracy, although the perpetrators were 
soon afterwards discovered, and a proper 
representation of the case made by Dr. 
Bowring, the Consul, to Seu, the Viceroy of 
Canton, might have led to the restoration of 
the property, valued at £2,000. Dr. Bow- 
ring refused to interfere, on the ground that 
Mr. Bellamy was engaged in an illegal traffic, 
meaning the opium, which caused the attack. 
The Chinamen having watched the vessel 
for a long time, the owner received an 
anonymous letter from a friendly Chinese, 
warning him to be on his guard, as the cutter 
would be attacked that night, w^hich caused 
him to leave Canton and join her, to ensure 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 75 

a better defence. He had not been half an 
hour on board when the attack took place. 
I have reasons well to remember that night, 
having caught an illness from sleeping on a 
sofa on deck in the night air, without any 
covering, which laid me up for three months, 
and from which I only recovered after ray 
arrival at the Cape of Good Hope. The 
illegal traffic, in which most of the great 
English houses in China, and all the man- 
darins Bxe equally engaged, is no justifica- 
tion for piracy to be left unpunished, or 
unnoticed by our Government. 

Large passage-boats to Hong Kong, Macao, 
and other parts, crowded with natives, hav- 
ing one immense latteen mat sail, wood-boats, 
fruit-boats, and boats carrying manure 
whose cargo is known as they pass, by the 
abominable effluvia they emit — Chops, or 
large cargo-boats, with tea and silks from 
Canton for the ships loading at Whampoa — 
Sing-song boats, going on a pleasure excur- 
sion, often a nuptial one, the cabin fitted up 
like a saloon, filling the entire barge, with 

E 2 



76 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

the rowers sitting on boards extending be- 
yond the bows, and the steer-oar used with 
a semi-rotary motion by as many as eight 
men standing up at one oar — all these con- 
stantly passing up and down the river 
night and day, saluting each other with 
gongs, crackers, and often with cannon, form 
a scene of which the eye never tires, and is 
approached by nothing in any other part of 
the world. 

But for the method of sculling the river- 
craft it would be impossible for such multi- 
tudes of vessels, large and small, to move 
about among each other without mutual 
impediment and confusion. The extreme 
order which reigned on the Canton river, 
notwithstanding its crowded state, parti- 
cularly struck Captain Laplace, whose re- 
marks on the subject are here translated, 
as the impressions of an individual alto- 
gether new to the place : 

" The greatest tranquillity and perfect har- 
mony reign amidst this aquatic population. 
All these boats, of forms and dimensions so 



J 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 77 

varied, move peaceably about. There are 
no fights, and rarely any quarrels. Each 
boat, carrying either passengers or goods, 
and sculled by a female surrounded by her 
little ones, meets everywhere with a good- 
humoured accommodation, in consequence 
of which, notwithstanding the rapid current 
of the river, accidents are extremely rare. 
What a lesson for the lower orders, so brutal, 
so coarse, among nations who pretend at the 
same time to be the most civilized in the 
world ! 

" In China, the knowledge and the arts 
which have given such an impulse to the in- 
dustry of France and England, are much as 
they were in Europe above a century ago ; 
but I repeat that the Chinese are very much 
our superiors in true civilization — in that 
which frees the majority of men from the 
brutality and ignorance which among many 
European nations place the lowest classes of 
society on a level with the most savage 
beasts." 

In the creeks is found the duck-boat, hav- 



78 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

ing on each side a large flat- covered cage- 
work, three times the size of the boat, rest- 
ing on the water, in which the duck-breeder 
keeps hundreds of these birds, which he lets 
out in the fields, or on the water, in the day- 
time, collecting them all at night into tJieir 
floating residence. 

The washerwomen are the only females 
who are visible about Whampoa ; these are 
a very amusing, honest, and industrious 
class of people, and neat in their appearance. 
The married women wear their hair very 
tastefully done up in a sort of knot, with a 
long silver-gilt pin stuck in it, and a 
sort of silver-gilt clasp behind. Their 
daughters wear their hair plaited, hanging 
down to the ground in one long tail, and 
cut close over the forehead; this distin- 
guishes the married from the single. These 
latter often say they " have made bargain,'' 
which means they are engaged, and soon 
will marry. 

The whole family manage the boat them- 
selves without men, and wash and mend the 
linen for two dollars a hundred, or one dol- 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 79 

lar a week for as much clothes as you like to 
wear, which in summer is the best way of 
contracting. To each person's articles they 
tie a diflferent-coloured piece of thread, not 
caring whether your linen is marked or not. 
They mend stockings and all other things by 
letting a square piece in, which on the knees 
of trousers and in the middle of light jackets, 
causes them seldom to be wanted again for 
use. Altogether, they are a very well-be- 
haved, and, in many instances, a refined 
class of people, always joking and good 
humoured. On leaving the place, they bring 
you a " cumshaw," or present of a pot of 
preserved ginger, a hamper of China oranges, 
or some such mark of civility. The washer- 
women have a license from the Consular 
Agent, and board ships some distance down 
the river, all competing for employment. 

In the morning, all sorts of tradespeople 
are allowed to come on board to sell to the 
sailors, who never can go on shore. Tailors, 
shoemakers, silk mercers, hat and cap mak- 
ers, trunk-makers, and vendors of fans, 
chessmen, paintings, and all sorts of curiosi- 



80 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

ties, form a motley group. All these will 
take just half what they first ask. Shoes, 
one shilling a pair; velvet embroidered slip- 
pers, two shillings ; straw hats, or caps, one 
shilling; white trousers, made to measure, 
two and sixpence a pair; China crape waist- 
coats, or black satin, six shillings ; and a 
China crape frock coat, well made and lined 
with black satin, thirty shillings. By giving 
them samples, they fit you uncommonly 
well. The shoes are inferior, and most resi- 
dents wear ready-made shoes from England. 
One sort of gentry are not permitted to 
approach the shipping : these are the sam- 
shu men, who, in small boats, get under the 
bows of ships after dark, and supply them 
with samshu, a highly-intoxicating liquor, 
distilled from rice, the cause of much insub- 
ordination amongst the crews. Samshu is 
drunk warm, out of small cups, by the na- 
tives ; it has rather an acid taste, not pleasant, 
and, when taken in excess, causes a temporary 
sort of delirium : our seamen have no notion, 
like the prudent Chinamen, of taking it as a 
relish, and therefore it is prohibited entirely- 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 81 

Bathing from the ships is highly dange- 
rous, on account of the strong tide and 
" ckow'chow^^ water, but from the shore there 
is no danger, and it is very delightful, the 
temperature ranging from 80 to 90 in the 
water, all the time 1 was there. In one part, 
near Blenheim Reach, the bottom is all sand : 
more generally it is thick mud. 

Sailors do not much admire Whampoa as 
a residence, on account of their not being 
allowed to go on shore at any time. And 
it does appear rather tantalizing, after a 
four months' voyage, for them to arrive in 
the midst of a beautiful country, that they 
can only behold from the ship, in which 
they must remain cooped up, as in the case 
of our men, for six months, without a 
chance of setting foot on terrd Jirmd. 

A distinguished author on China, de- 
scribes the fearful tumults generated in 
Hog Lane, a low street in Canton, much 
frequented by seamen in former times, as 
something quite remarkable. A few strag- 
gling sailors, fresh from their ship, in 

E 3 



82 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

passing a spirit shop, would be greeted by 
some Chinese, with '' How you do, Jack?' 
which would be immediately followed by a 
general exchange of similar brief and fami- 
liar appellations, as Tom, Bill, or Ned, be 
the person addressed Christian or Pagan. 
A pipe and repeated glasses of grog (all on 
the sailor's side) would immediately follow 
— with what might be called their ulterior 
consequences; for, when the Chinese at 
length made their singularly unreasonable 
demand for payment, as perhaps a few 
dollars^ for what might be worth a few 
pence^ Jack would have just sufficient reason 
left to discern the extent of the enormity, 
without being at all in a condition to meet 
the case by a logical argument. The place 
of reason would therefore be support^ by 
the fist, or by any thing still harder that 
chanced to be grasped within it. The 
Chinese, not unprepared for the emergency, 
and in full possession of their wits, woul^ 
discomfit by dint of numbers, and drive the 
sailors down the lane; but these would pre- 



A VOYAQB TO CHINA. 88 

sently return, with strong reinforcements; 
and so the tumult would grow, with succes- 
sive charges and re-charges, and woundl 
deep and broad, until several individuals on 
either side, were maimed, or killed. Hog 
Lane seems to have been blocked up by 
Commissioner Lin, in 1839, and remains so 
at the present day. 

Considerate Captains generally manage 
to give all the men, in their turn, a day's 
trip to Canton, although that is against the 
rules, as will be seen by the following 
" instructions given by the Consul to masters 
of British merchant vessels arrivmg at 
Whampoa. 

" 1st In preference to using a ship's boat, 

it is advisable to engage a sampan, to avoid 
exposing European seamen. 

" 2nd — .Within twenty-four hours after 
arrival, the ship's register, Bocca Tigris 
Pass^ and manifest of cargo, are to be de- 
posited with the Consul at Canton, after 
which, due permission will be obtained to 
break bulk. 



84 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

<<3rd. — Within forty-eight hours after 
arrival, the agreement with the crew, the 
indentures of the apprentices on board, and 
their register-tickets, and the register-ticket 
of each seaman, are to be deposited with the 
Consular agent at Whampoa. 

" 4th When any disputes arise amongst 

the crew, reference should be made to the^ 
Consular agent. 

" 5th.— -None of the crew can be hired, 
discharged, or left behind, without the sanc- 
tion of the Consular agent endorsed on the 
agreement. In the case of colonial or 
country vessels, this sanction must be 
ol herwise obtained in writing. All desertions 
must be reported to him, within twenty-four 
hours of their occurrence. 

" 6th. — Neither stone nor other ballast is 
permitted to be thrown overboard. 

" 7th — Fifteen boats hold licenses for 
washing sailors' clothes. They are allowed 
to charge for each sailor on board, one dollar 
for the first month, and half a dollar for each 
subsequent month of a ship's stay. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 85 

" 8th. — Sailors are not allowed to go on 
shore at any time. On Sunday, an oppor- 
tunity is afforded of attending divine service 
(afloat). 

" 9th. — Bumboats may be permitted to 
come alongside at the gangway, at meal 
times, to sell clothes, or odier necessaries; 
but sam-shu boats ought carefully to be 
warded off. These come under the bows of 
vessels early and late in the day, and at meal 
times. The Consular agent requests endea- 
vours may be made to capture and bring 
then, to hL. 

" lOth. — A particular watch ought to be 
kept on Chinese, in and about a ship, when 
discharging or loading small and loose pack- 
ages. 

" 11th.— .Bathing is highly dangerous in 
the middle of the stream, unless at slack 
water. 

" 12th. — It is compulsory to hoist a blue 
Peter, twenty-four hours previous to depar- 
ture." 



86 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 



CHAPTER V. 

Amusements of Boat-Sailing — Chinese Funerals — A Visit 
to " G-olgotha" —Sale of Children — Juvenile Intelligence 
— Dress of the Natives — Ornaments and Jewellery — 
Coins current in China — ^Provisions plentiful — Fruit in 
profusion — Safe Promenades — A Chinese Garden-^ 
Hatred of Fanquis —Englishmen Molested — Climate at 
Whampoa — ^The Visitor's Head Quarters — Course of the 
River-^Visit to a Pagoda — Chinese Forts — Piles driren 
into the River — Villages — ^The French and Dutch Follies 
— Landing-places at Canton — Pu-ates. 

BoAT-sailing is a favourite amusement, but 
there is seldom wind enough in summer, 
or else it is so high that a boat cannot 
venture out. It blew a typhoon during one 
entire day, when the ships struck top-gallant 
masts and yards, but all the fleet rode it out 
well. Two ships in Blenheim Reach were 
struck with lightning, which shivered their 
masts to pieces. A dead Chinaman floating 
down the river is not an uncommon sight. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 87 

Nobody touches the body, on account of 
some of their laws upon that point, obliging 
those who go near it to bury it. There 
are no coroner^ s inquests in China. 

The lowest classes of Chinamen, instead 
of burying the dead, place them under 
bushes, wrapped up in cloths. An island 
in the Reach is called " Golgotha," from the 
number of skulls usually found on it. One 
day I landed there to look for birds, and, 
advancing in amongst the jungle, stumbled 
over a corpse in a state of decomposition. 
The bamboo hat and some cash were depo- 
sited by its side. 

Infanticide is not so common in China as 
people suppose. If the parents are very 
poor, they will often sell newly-born females 
for a few dollars. These, when bought, are 
brought up with the other children of the 
buyer, no difference being made except in 
ornaments and dress, although they are 
literally slaves, and can be sold again at any 
time. When grown up, they are worth 
from fifty to two hundred dollars, according 
to their usefulness. 



88 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

The Chinese are extremely fond of their 
children, particularly the boys, who certainly 
are the most forward, intelligent, and daring 
little " Celestials " imaginable. If you stop 
and look at a large cargo-boat, half-a-dozen, 
from two to three years old, will run out, 
stare at you, and call out lustily " Fanqui !" 
*-Fanqui!" "cumshaw!" holding out both 
their hands for money. They are generally 
naked, and all wear the painted gourd be- 
hind their backs up to seven or eight years 
of age, which precaution is rather anti-infan- 
ticidal. One mother lost her child over- 
board from a boat alongside the ship, and 
almost went frantic with grief, being with 
difficulty prevented from drowning herself. 

The dress of the natives is the same both 
for men and women; the loose nankeen- 
jacket buttoning at the side, either blue or 
black. Sometimes it is made of grass-cloth, 
or silk, Avith trousers of the same materials 
and colour, very large, and tied round the 
waist with a piece of tape. Shoes are not 
worn by the people living on the water. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 89 

Tradespeople and servants wear shoes with 
thick white soles, and the upper part satin, 
or velvet, but no leather. Every common 
coolie carries a fan to keep off the sun. 

A broad bamboo pointed hat is worn in 
summer by some, most persons going about 
without any covering to the head. In 
winter they all wear a small black silk skull 
cap, occasionally richly embroidered. Man- 
darins and their attendants wear pointed 
hats, made of white paddy-straw, with a 
bunch of horsehair died red hanging from 
the top. All the women wear jewellery, 
principally of silver-gilt, or as they call it, 
" silver wash-gold. " 

The ornaments consist in the head-pin 
and plate before mentioned, ear-rings of a 
greenish semi-transparent stone, called jade, 
common in China, silver bangles on the arms 
or wrists, and rings. They wear no bangles 
on the feet, and few have them on the arms. 
The other ornaments are not too heavy, as 
in India, and in very good taste. 

The men wear no jewellery, their ambition 
being placed in a gold watch, Geneva or 



90 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

English, which they carry in a purse in front 
tied to their trouser's girth. The money- 
purse is invariably worn there by all classes, 
and is just covered from sight by the jacket. 
Spanish dollars, with the half and quarter 
dollar, are the current coins amongst Euro- 
peans in China. Rupees are not refused in 
payment, and the Chinese copper cash tied 
up in bundles of one hundred called a mace, 
value four-pence, are principally used by the 
natives, these bundles being too inconvenient 
a form for Europeans to be troubled with. 

The dollars are all stamped by each China- 
man's hands they go through, so that many 
are literally covered with Chinese letters, 
and go by the name of chop-dollar. Sycee 
silver, and silver and gold in bars, are con- 
fined to the use of the mercantile commu- 
nity, who will not take chop-dollars without 
making a reduction, according to their 
weight. The dollar is generally worth 
about four shillings; the rupee one shilling 
and ninepence. English money is not 
known, except at Hong Kong. 

Provisions of all sorts are plentiful at 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 9 1 

Whampoa, and are very good. Fish, poul- 
try, game, vegetables, eggs, beef and bread, 
are supplied to the ships every morning by 
the " Compradore," who has the entire 
management of the victualling-department. 
Milk is scarce. Chinamen never using it. If 
they can't get cow's milk, they s^d you 
pig's, goat's, or any sort of milk they can get. 
Mutton is scarce, and costs two shillings a 
pound. It comes from Shang-Hai in the 
north, and is very good. The fields abound 
in snipe ; wild duck and teal can be shot all 
along the river, which in winter is the only 
sport to be had. The rice-bird, not bigger 
than a humming-bird is the ortolan of China ; 
it is only in season a few weeks, and is a great 
delicacy. 

Amongst the fruit, the Lychee is the only 
one worth noticing as a novelty ; it is white 
inside, with a red covering, very mucilagi- 
nous, about the size of a green gage, and 
can be eaten in any quantity. Oranges are 
so common here that we could not get 
through one quarter of those given to us as 



92 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

" curashaw," when we sailed, before they 
were spoilt or eaten by cockroaches. Plain- 
tains, custard-apples, and limes, are very 
fine ; pine-apples and pears are nothing to 
boast of, but cheap. 

The only places one can walk in with any 
degree of safety are Bamboo Town, New 
Town some part of French Island near the 
cemetery, and all over ^Dane's Island, save 
entering the village at the extreme end of it, 
which I once went through, but not without 
some risk. All these parts are inhabited by 
people who live by the shipping, and are in 
constant intercourse with Europeans, to 
whom they are most friendly. 

A Chinese garden, containing a fine spring 
of limpid water, is a favourite walk for 
ladies, in which an old Chinaman is always 
glad to see visitors, and ask them in to sit 
down, and drink the water, or eat oranges 
and lychees. An old fort in ruins, on the 
top of the hill, is also much frequented, 
which, with a few temples or joss-houses, are 
the only things worth visiting. But, on the 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 93 

opposite side of the river, or at any other 
part beyond these places even at a short dis- 
tance, the case is different. 

The agricultural population know nothing 
of Europeans, but as intruders, and cries of 
"Sot Fanqui !" from a crowd of ragged coolies 
will soon greet the ear of the imprudent 
stroller beyond the accustomed limits. If 
he be only pelted with mud and stones, 
pursued with sticks, and be able to escape to 
his boat with his life, he may consider himself 
fortunate and note it as a " wrinkle'* during 
the rest of his residence in China. Hatred 
to Fanquis, and plunder, are the principal 
objects in view; and it is wise to wear no 
watch, chain, nor any sort of jewellery, and 
to carry no money when inclined to wander 
about outside of the towns of China. 

I believe in the north things are very 
different, and that sportsmen go out for days 
together any distance inland, quite unmoles- 
ted. The southern Chinese have always 
been of a more dangerous disposition and 
more ferocious towards foreigners than those 



94 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

in the north, where the cities are thrown 
open to Englishmen, who would be torn to 
pieces if they ventured under the gates of 
Canton. 

A friend of mine, many years resident at 
Whampoa, and a lieutenant of a man-of-war 
stationed there, did not believe that China- 
men would molest two individuals walking 
quietly in the fields and treating them civilly 
and with good tumour. Accordingly, they 
took their guns and sauntered inland, directly 
opposite the whole fleet of shipping on the 
right hand side of the river. They were 
soon surrounded by a crowd which increased 
in time to several hundreds, their guns were 
wrenched out of tiieir hands, they were pur- 
sued and pelted with stones down to the 
water's edge, where they jumped into their 
boat, having owed their escaping with their 
lives to nothing else but their heels, the 
labourers being armed with implements of 
agriculture and having every intention of 
cutting them down. 

The occurrence has been of use to many 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 95 

since, who are on arriving too much inclined 
to think as my friend did, that all these 
dangers are exaggerated, and brought about 
by the over-bearing manner or want of tact 
in the person venturing amongst them. Too 
many instances similar to this prove that 
the Chinese are never to be trusted, and 
to venture amongst them out of the usual 
limits, is to expose one self to be mobbed, 
plundered, and murdered. 

The heat in summer at Whampoa, when 
there is no wind, is excessive, and more 
enervating than in any part of the world, 
even where the thermometer may range 
higher. The winter months are very 
pleasant, and woollen clothes are requisite. 
The summer dress is a white grass-cloth 
jacket, duck trousers, and a straw hat, any 
thing else being ** de trop.^* 

Mosquitoes are not very troublesome at 
night, but thousands of cockroaches, crawl- 
ing all over one, replace them well as an East- 
ern nuisance. In Canton mosquito-curtains 
are necessary. The visitor to China cannot 



96 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

make his head-quarters at a better place 
than Whampoa, where he will see more of 
the natives, have more liberty in walking 
excursions, and meet plenty of new comers, 
intending like himself to make a short stay. 
The easy access to Canton in two hours, and 
to Hong Kong, or Macao, by steam in ten 
hours, enables one to exchange quickly this 
aquatic country life for the busy hum of 
men. 

The distance from Whampoa to Canton 
is thirteen miles, which a sampan usually 
performs, starting with the tide, in two 
hours ; against the tide double that time is 
required. At New Town, the river divides 
itself into two equal branches ; the one 
called Junk River, is generally preferred : 
they both unite again near the barrier. 
The borders of the river are planted with 
bananas, from which extend inland, paddy- 
fields on each side, intermixed with orano^e- 
groves, small farms, and Joss temples. 

Not far up, on the left-hand side, is a 
small pagoda of octagonal shape, built of 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 97 

blue bricks and white chunam. Peeping 
out through the trees in the distance, it looks 
very much like the spire of a small village 
church. I once landed to go and see it : a 
road about a quarter of a mile long conduc- 
ted me to a pretty Chinese bridge which led 
me to the entrance of the temple. It was 
three stories high, each chamber being filled 
with large josses, gilt images, inscriptions, 
tinsel, and other appurtenances of Chinese 
idolatry. A ladder led from one floor to 
the other, which could be removed, and 
sometimes strangers visiting these places 
have been surrounded by natives, who re- 
move the ladder, and will not replace it, 
until you ransom yourself by first paying a 
number of dollars. Knowing this, I did 
not spend much time in the upper stories, 
but came down, without seeing anybody. 
Sailing up the river about two miles from 
this spot, you come to the first of the two 
great pagodas between Canton and Wham- 
poa, both exactly similar, about the height 
of the Monument, divided into nine equal 

VOL. II. F 



98 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

parts, with a balcony outside, surrounding 
each, and on which flowers are planted. The 
inside is quite hollow, and the top is reached 
by a ladder placed outside and moved on 
from one balcony to the other. The pagoda 
tapers a little towards the top, is built of 
white and red bricks, and is adorned with 
elegantly carved work in white stone. It 
is supposed to be of great antiquity, and is 
a good specimen of th^ pagoda kind of 
structure which is met with all over China. 

About half way between Whampoa and 
Canton, where the two branches of the river 
again unite, stands the second pagoda, 
exactly similar to the one just described. 

On the opposite side is a large Chinese 
fort, square and low, with large embrasures 
for the guns, all built of granite, and each 
closed with a door, preventing the guns 
from being seen, unless left open. This fort 
has thirty heavy guns on the ground tier, 
and above this loop-holes for bowmen, and 
matchlocks. Extending across the river 
from this fort, is the celebrated "barrier" 



A VOTAGE TO CHINA. 99 

constructed during the late war to block up 
the stream entirely. Large junks, laden 
with stones, were sunk at equal distances, and 
two rows of immense piles driven into the bed 
of the river between them, are only visible 
at low water, so as completely to obstruct 
the navigation. A passage for junks and 
boats has since been made, by removing some 
of the piles, but it is still a serious impedi- 
ment to the traffic, and useless as a means 
of defence. 

On the same side, a mile higher up, is a 
similar fort, mounting twenty-three guns, and 
opposite to it one with fifteen guns. A little 
above this the river again divides itself into 
two branches ; and, on the point of land where 
this takes place, stands a round fort with 
twenty guns, commanding both streams. 
Beyond is a large village on the right, 
built on bamboos in the water, with the 
usual accompaniment of fleets of sampans in 
front. Several minor villages, with joss- 
houses and small pagodas, meet the eye; 

F 2 



100 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

canals, and cuts to irrigate the paddy-fields 
are very frequent. 

On the right, a few miles from Canton, is 
another fort having fifteen guns, and behind 
it, at some distance inland, on a high hiU^ 
is a larger one with thirty guns, which 
commands the passage. The total number 
of cannon guarding the river thus consists 
of 133, besides others on the parts of the 
stream not generally frequented; in all 
amounting to near 200 pieces of ordnance. 
In passing all these fortifications not a single 
soldier is ever seen, nor any signs of a milita- 
ry nature, but admittance is not allowed to 
Fanquis', on any account. Fleets of junks 
at anchor indicate the near approach to the 
capital of Southern China, and the flag- 
staffs in front of the factories soon meet the 
eye. 

Passing by the French and Dutch Follies, 
two small round forts in ruins on the right 
bank of the river, the fleet of war-junks, 
each carrying from twenty to forty guns of 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 101 

irregular sizes, almost obstruct the channel, 
and next to these a frigate built by the 
Chinese, in imitation of the English, but 
never used, is sunk, with the masts and 
yards appearing above water. From this 
part to the factories, is one continual scene 
of junks, mandarin-boats, cargo-boats, 
sampans and ferry-boats, all striving to 
pass each other, sometimes getting jammed, 
but every one anxious to avoid doing 
damage of any sort, and displaying a careful 
and considerate manner towards each other, 
which you might in vain look for in the 
pool, or in any crowded aquatic thoroughfare 
at home. 

At length, you arrive at the landing- 
place, opposite a fleet of flower-boats, so 
called from the ornamental work about 
them. There is a small dock in front of the 
gardens for European residents only to make 
use of, the common landing-place being 
some inconvenient steps leading on to a 
narrow bridge of planks, and guarded by an 
old Chinaman, who is a sort of spy upon 



102 A VOrAGE TO CHINA. 

everybody and every thing going in and 
out. 

At these landing-places, pirates have their 
emissaries, who know every chest of trea- 
sure, &c., that is put into any boat, and give 
timely notice of it to their own gang, which 
renders it so dangerous to carry money up 
or down without a boat's crew fully armed 
and prepared for attack, as it is impossible 
to avoid its beingknown to these desperadoes. 

An armed boat of the " Charles Grant" 
with treasure, was attacked in broad day not 
far from Canton, by a pirate, that, as a ruse^ 
had a man standing up in the bows holding 
a letter out, as if for the Captain, who, not 
suspecting the real character of the parties, 
was suddenly attacked with spears, swords, 
and fire-arms, and the boat was plundered. 
Similar instances are of common occurrence 
on these waters, and no private individual 
ventures up the river without fire-arms ready 
for immediate use, when, if chased by any 
suspicious-looking craft, prompt measures 
will generally insure safety. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 103 



CHAPTER VI. 

Chinese Account of the City of Canton — ^Tts History — The 
Shang Dynasty — Tribute to the Emperors — ^Extent of 
the City during the Chow Dynasty — Its Various Desig- 
nations- Rebellion in the Reign of Tsin-che-wang — 
Various Subsequent Changes — A Market Opened — The 
Famous Pass — Cruelties at Court — Imperial Edicts — ^Ex- 
tensive Wall Built — Increasing Conunerce — The City 
Attacked by the Tartars and taken — Fearful Massacre 
of the Inhabitants — The Traitorous Prefect — Destruc- 
tion of Property — ^The New City described — State of 
the Walls— The Sixteen Gates — Description of the 
Suburbs. 

The city of Canton is one of the oldest 
in this part of the empire, and, since 
its foundations were first laid, has undergone 
numerous changes. It is not easy, and 
perhaps not possible, to determine its original 
site and name, or to ascertain the time in 
which it was first built. But although it is 
not important to decide either of these 
questions, it may be interesting to the 



104 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

reader to have a brief account of what the 
Chinese themselves narrate respecting one 
of their largest and most populous and 
wealthy cities. 

More than 4,000 years ago, according to 
the Chinese chronicles, the celebrated Yaou 
commanded one of his ministers to repair to 
Nan»keaou, which was also called Ming-too, 
" the splendid capital," and govern it, and 
the surrounding country. Nan-keaou then 
included the site of the present city pf 
Canton, and belonged to the southern 
regions of Yang, which last formed one of 
the twelve states into which the whole world 
(China) was shortly after divided. These 
** southern regions" seem to have been very 
extensive, and were subsequently known by 
diflFerent names, as Keaou-che, Keaou-chow, 
Ling-nan, Kwang-chow, Nan-hae, Nan-yue, 
Pih-yue, Yue, and Yue-tung. This last 
name is often used in classical writings, and 
official documents, at the present time, to 
designate the province of Canton. 

During the time of the Shang dynasty, 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 105 

which fell 1123, B. c, the inhabitants of 
these southern regions first began to pay 
tribute to the emperors of China. Soon 
after the next, the Chow djmasty, took the 
throne, the empire was extended; many 
improvements were introduced ; the people 
began to engage in agriculture; and, when 
the '*son of heaven received tribute from 
the four quarters of the earth," some of the 
tribes of Keaou-chow (which then included 
Canton), " brought crabs and frogs, others 
brought snakes and crickets." These 
southern tribes were often very troublesome 
to the rulers of China. About 630 b. c. 
Ching-wang-yung, avirtuous and benevolent 
man, became master of the country of Tsoo, 
and sent tribute to the emperor ; who di- 
rected him to subdue his disorderly neigh- 
bours on the south, that they might not dis- 
turb the tranquillity of the middle kingdom. 
Tsoo was then a powerful state, and the 
tribes of the south soon submitted. 

The historians of Canton are able to trace 
the origin of their city to the time of Nan- 

F 3 



106 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

wang, one of the last emperors of the Chow 
dynasty, who reigned 2,000 years ago. The 
city, which was then called Nan-woo-ching, 
" the martial city of the south/' was sur- 
rounded by nothing more than a kind of a 
stockade composed of bamboo and mud ; and 
perhaps was not very much unlike some of 
the modern " strongholds'' of the Malays. 
It was at first of narrow dimensions, but 
was afterwards enlarged, and seems to have 
been more than once removed from one 
place to another ; and, at different times, like 
the country itself, it has been called by 
different names, which it received either 
from its situation or from some passing 
occurrence. 

One of its earliest names, and one which 
is still used in books, was Yang-ching, " the 
city of rams." This designation was ob- 
tained from the following occurrence, viz : 
Five genii, clothed with garments of five 
different colours, and riding on rams of 
five different colours, met at the capital; 
each of the rams bore in his mouth a stalk 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 107 

of grain having six ears, and presented them 
to the people of the district, to whom the 
genii thus spake : — 

" Yuen tsze hwan hwae, yung woo hwang ke." 
(May famine and dearth never visit your markets I) 

Having uttered these words, they imme- 
diately disappeared, and the rams were 
changed into stone. From this same occur- 
rence, the city is also called " the city of 
genii," and ** the city of grain;" and one of 
their temples is named " the temple of the 
five genii." This temple stands near one of 
the gates of the city, which is called " the 
gate of the five genii ;" and in it the five 
stone rams are to be seen to this day. There 
are many other legends interwoven with the 
history of the city. 

During the reign of the famous Tsin-che- 
wang, about two centuries and a half before 
the Christian era, the people of the South 
rose in open rebellion, and the emperor 
sent thither 600,000 men to subdue them. 
These soldiers were divided into five armies, 
one of which was stationed at Pwan-yu. 



108 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

For three full years, these soldiers neither 
relaxed their discipline, nor put off their 
armour. At length, however, provisions 
failed: the people became desperate, and 
made a furious onset against their invaders ; 
the imperial troops were routed ; their com- 
mander was slain, and the blood flowed seve- 
ral tens of les, or Chinese miles. But these 
rebellious tribes shortly after submitted to 
the founder of the Han djmasty, two centu- 
ries before our era. In the time of Woo-te, 
Nan-yue included nine of the thirty-six 
keuns, or principalities, into which China 
was then divided ; and the city of Canton 
was called Kan-hae-keun, " the principality 
of Nan-hae; and Pwan-yu was a distinct 
heen. 

In the reign of Keen-gan, a. d. 210, we 
first met with Kwang-chow, which was then 
the name of an extensive territory, and is 
now the name of the Foo district, which 
includes the city of Canton. During the 
two next centuries, the changes and divisions 
were very frequent, and too numerous to be 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 109 

mentioned. In the time of Teen-keen, or 
Woo-te, ** the martial monarch," whose reign 
closed A. D. 643, the people of Canton sent a 
piece of fine cloth as tribute to the emperor ; 
but that hardy warrior was so displeased 
with its luxurious softness, that he rejected 
it, and issued a mandate, forbidding the 
manufacture of any more cloth of so fine a 
quality. 

During the reign of the same emperor, 
Kwang-chow was divided ; and a part of it 
was called Kwei-chow, which is now Kwei- 
lin, the capital of the province of Kwang-se. 
In this division, the Chinese find the origin 
of the names of the two Kwang provinces, 
namely, Kwang-tung-sang, or "the wide 
eastern province ;" and Kwan-se-sang, " the 
wide western province.'* 

It should be observed here, that this pro- 
vince was not actually called Kwang-tung- 
sang until a subsequent period. We first 
met with the name Kwang-tung in the reign 
of Shaou-ting, of the Sung dynasty, about 
1150. During the reign of the next empe- 



110 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

ror, and so until the close of the dynasty, it 
was called Kwang-tung-loo, Under the 
Yuen dynasty, it was called Kwang-tung- 
taou ; and received its present name, Kwang- 
txxng'Sang in the reign of Hung-woo, the 
first emperor of the Ming dynasty. It was 
at the same time also (about A. d. 1368) 
that Kwang-chow, the principal district of 
the province, was first called a foo ; pre- 
viously, it had been usually called Kwang- 
chow-fo^. 

For three or four centuries previously to 
this time, considerable intercourse was main- 
tained between the inhabitants of India and 
the people of Canton. But it was not until 
about A. D. 700, and in the time of the Tang 
dynasty, that a regular market for foreign 
commerce was opened at Canton, and an 
imperial commissioner appointed to receive 
the " fixed duties" on behalf of the govern- 
ment. " Extraordinary commodities and 
curious manufactures began to be intro- 
duced;" and, in 705, the famous pass was 
cut by Chang-kew-ling, through the Meiling 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. Ill 

chain, in order to facilitate intercourse 
between Canton and the more northern 
parts of the empire. 

Multitudes of trading vessels now flocked 
to Canton ; but in 795, either because the 
extortions were insupportable, or from some 
failure in affording proper inducement to 
the merchants, they all deserted the place, 
and repaired to Cochin China. Near the 
close of the next century, the Cochin 
Chinese came by land, and made war on 
Canton ; provisions became scarce, and large 
vessels were built to bring grain from the 
province of Fuh-keen. 

After the fall of the Tang dynasty, A. D. 
906, there arose, reigned, and fell, all within 
the period of about fifty-three years, five 
dynasties. To the first of these, the people 
of Canton sent tribute of gold, silver, ivory, 
and various other valuable commodities, to 
the amount of five millions of taels. In 
consequence of this, the emperor created 
Lew-yen, the principal person concerned in 
sending the tribute, king of Canton, under 



112 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

the title of Nan-hae-wang, "king of the 
southern sea." The court of Canton is 
represented, at this time, as having been 
cruel and extravagant in the extreme; 
'* criminals were boiled and roasted, and 
flayed, and thrown on spikes, and were 
forced to fight with tigers and elephaats." 

The horrid tale of these awful cruelties 
shocked the founder of the Sung dynasty, 
who, in the fourteenth year of his reign, a. d. 
964, declared it to be his duty to rescue 
from evil the people of this region. A 
prodigy was now seen in the heavens, " all 
the stars flowed to the north;" and, in the 
ensuing year, the people obtained peace and 
tranquillity. 

The first emperors of the Sung dynasty 
appear to have studied much the welfare of 
Canton, whose inhabitants then lived in a 
very barbarous state. Witches and wizards 
were prohibited; sorcery was interdicted; 
and the temples, which had been built 
for the practice of superstitious rites, were 
thrown down by order of government. The 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 113 

people were forbidden also ** to kill men to 
sacrifice to demons;'' and to relieve the 
sufferers from the noxious diseases which 
were prevalent, dispensaries ofmedicmes 
were established. Useless and extravagant 
articles of apparel were discountenanced; 
and pearls and ornaments of gold for head- 
dresses were disallowed. Government like- 
wise forbade expeditions against Cochin- 
China, reprobating the idea of distressing 
the people from a mere covetous desire of 
gaining useless territory. In 1067, during 
the reign of the fifth emperor of this dynasty, 
the city of Canton was inclosed by a wall, 
at an expense of 50,000 taels. This wall 
was about two English miles in circumference, 
and was built for a defence against the 
people of Cochin-China, who had frequently 
invaded and plundered Canton. 

The founders of the Yuen dynasty, who 
became masters of the throne in 1279, 
rushed in upon the South of China like 
bloodhounds. Towns and villages were 
laid in ruins, and such multitudes of the 



114 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

people were slain, that " the blood flowed in 
sounding torrents.'' For a time, the foreign 
commerce of Canton was interrupted ; but, 
when peace and tranquillity were restored, 
commerce began again to revive. In 1300, 
an " abundance of vessels came to Canton f 
and, not long afterwards, the ports of the 
provinces of Che-keang and Fuh-keen were 
also opened for the reception of foreign 
ships. 

Fernao Peres de Andrade seems to have 
been the pioneer in European commerce to 
China by the Cape of Good Hope. He 
reached Canton in 1517, during the peace- 
ful and most prosperous times of the Ming 
dynasty. Spanish, Dutch, and English 
adventurers soon followed the Portuguese. 
And the ports of Canton, Macao, and Teen- 
pih in this province ; those of Ning-po and 
Chusan, in Che-keang ; and that of Amoy 
in Fuh-keen, became large marts for Euro- 
pean commerce. We pass now to the time 
when the present Tartar family gained 
possession of the throne of China. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 115 

In the third year of Shunche, A. d. 1647, 
the inhabitants of the city and province of 
Canton " had rest and tranquillity ; " and the 
divisions and government continued as they 
had been during the time of the preceding 
reign. But this quiet state of affairs was not 
long to be enjoyed. Yung-leih, endeavouring 
to revive the authority of the Ming family, 
raised the standard of rebellion. Imperial 
armies, composed partly of Tartar and partly 
of Chinese soldiers, were dispatched from 
Peking; and the provinces of Fuh-keen, 
Kwang-se and Kwang-tung, soon submitted 
— excepting only the city of Canton, which 
resolved to try the fortune of war. 

The place was well prepared for defence, 
and the people for obstinate resistance. The 
river on the south, and the ditches on the 
east and west of the city, rendered it acces- 
sible to the enemy only on the north ; for 
the Tartars " had neither boats nor skill to 
manage them, but the city had both the one 
and the other," and a free navigation of the 
river southward to the sea. The garrison 



116 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

of the city, too, was strengthened by great 
numbers who fled hither for safety. For 
more than eleven months, the Tartars con- 
tinued to make frequent assaults, and were 
as often repulsed and driven back with 
great slaughter. The final capture of the 
city is described by Martin Martini, a Jesuit, 
who was at that time in the south of China, 
in the foUowing words :— 

*^ This courage (of the people of Canton) 
made the Tartars fall upon a resolution of 
beating down the walls of the city with their 
great cannon, which had such an effect, that 
they took it on the 24th of November, 1650 ; 
and, because it was remarked that they gave 
to a prefect of the city the same office he 
had before, it was suspected that it was 
delivered by treason. The next day, they 
began to plunder the city ; and the sackage 
continued till the fifth of December, in 
which they neither spared man, woman, nor 
child ; but all, whoever came in their way, 
were cruelly put to the sword ; nor was 
there heard any other speech, but kill, kill 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 117 

these barbarous rebels! Yet they spared 
some artificers to conserve the necessary 
arts, as also some strong and lusty men 
such as they saw able to carry away the 
pillage of the city. But finally, December 
6th, came out an edict, which forbade all 
further vexation, after they had killed a 
hundred thousand men^ besides those that 
perished several ways during the siege. 

Native writers, while they differ very little 
from the above accounts, add other particu- 
lars, some of which are subjoined. The 
imperial troops were commanded by Shang- 
ko-he and Kang-ke-woo, two Tartar officers 
of high rank, who had orders first to subdue, 
and then to remain and govern the southern 
provinces. Of the rebels, Too-yung-ho was 
the commander-in-chief, who, as soon as he 
saw that the Tartars were victorious, deserted 
his men, and fled by sea to Hainan. The 
second in command was Fan-ching-gan, the 
traitorous prefect, who, by plotting with the 
enemy, enabled them to enter the city. 
According to a manuscript account, the 
whole jiumber of slain, during the siege and 



118 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

the plundering of the city, was 700,000 ; 
" every house was left desolate." 

The Tartars, after they had finished this 
work of death, took up their quarters in the 
old city, where they still live, and civil 
officers were appointed to reside in the new 
city. It is said, that in the old city only 
one house, built before the sacking of the 
city, is standing at the present time. The 
destruction of property, as well as life, was 
very great. AU prospect of escaping with 
their treasures being cut oiF, many of the 
people dug holes in the ground, and there 
deposited their money in earthen jars : these 
are sometimes found by persons when sinking 
wells, or breaking up the old foundations of 
houses and temples. From these ruins the 
city has gradually risen, and, up to the 
present period, has increased in population, 
wealth, and influence. 

That part of the city which is surrounded 
by a wall is built nearly in the form of a 
square, and is divided by a wall running 
from east to west, into two parts. The 
northern, which is much the larger part, is 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA, 119 

called the old city; the southern part is 
called the new city. The new city was 
built at a much later period than the old. 
The entire circuit of the wall which now 
includes both divisions of the city, is va- 
riously estimated by the Chinese. At a quick 
step, the whole distance may be walked in 
little less than two hours, and I think it cannot 
exceed seven English miles. On the south 
side, the wall runs nearly due east and west, 
parallel to the river, and distant from it 
perhaps fifteen or twenty rods. On the 
north, where the city " rests on the brow of 
the hill," the wall takes a serpentine course, 
and its base at its highest point on the hill 
is perhaps 200 or 300 feet above the surface 
of the river. 

The walls are composed partly of stone, 
and partly of bricks : the former is chiefly 
coarse sandstone, and forms the foundation 
and the lower part of the walls and the 
arches of the gates ; the latter are small and 
of a soft texture. In several places, parti- 
cularly along the east side of the city, the 



120 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

elements have made such inroads on the 
walls as to afford satisfactory evidence, that 
before the prowess of a modem foe they 
would present but a feeble resistance. 
They rise almost perpendicularly, and vary 
in height from twenty-five to thirty-five, 
or forty feet. In thickness they are from 
twenty to twenty-five feet. They are 
the highest and most substantial on the 
north side, evidently so built because in 
that direction hostile bands would be the 
most likely to make an attack. A line of 
battlements, with embrasures at intervals of 
a few feet, are raised on the top of the waU 
round the whole city ; these the Chinese call 
ching-jin, literally city-men ; and, in the rear 
of them, there is a broad pathway. There 
are two " wings," or short walls, one at the 
south-east, and the other at the south-west 
corner of the city, which stretch out from 
the main walls ; these were designed to block 
up the narrow space between the walls and 
the ditches of the city. Through each of 
these there is a gate in every respect similar 
to those of the city. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 121 

The gates of the city are sixteen in num- 
ber: four of these lead through the wall 
which separates the old from the new city; 
so that there are only twelve outer gates. 
Commencing on the north and passing round 
to the west, south and east, the following 
are the names of these twelve gates, viz. :— 

1. Ching-pih mun : — this is the principal 
gate on the north ; before it, is a small semi- 
circular space, surrounded by a wall similar 
to those of the city ; it forms the entrance 
for government officers and the bearers of 
public dispatches, when arriving from Peking 
by land : officers not unfrequentljr come to 
Canton in boats, in which case, they usually 
make their entrance at one of the southern 
gates. 

2. Ching-se mun .* — ^this is the only gate on 
the west which leads into the old city ; for a 
Chinese city, this gate is very broad and 
high — perhaps fifteen feet wide and twelve 
high ! 

3. Tae-pingmun: — this is the only entrance 
into the new city on the west ; it is similar 

VOL. II. Q 



122 A VOYAGE TO CHINA* 

to the other western gate, but not so 

large. 

4. Chuh-lan mun : — this is a small gate, 

and the first one you find after passing round 

the south-west corner of the city; it is the 

nearest gate to the foreign factories. 

6. Yew4an mun .• — this is near the Chuh- 
lan gate, and, like it, seems designed chiefly 

for the conveyance of heavy merchandise 

into the city. 

6. Tsing-hae mun .-—this perhaps was in- 
tended to be the water gate, as both its 
situation and name seem to indicate. 

7. Woo-see mun •• — is " the gate of the five 
genii," and has nothing remarkable except 
its name. 

8. Yung-tsing mun : — ^there is nothing 
around this "gate of eternal purity" that 
can indicate such a name, but very much to 
suggest an opposite one : it is, moreover, the 
gate which leads to the field of blood — the 
royal execution-ground. 

9. Seaou-nan mun : — this " small southern 
gate " is the sixth and last on the south of 
the city. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 123 

10. Yung-gan mun : — this * ' gate of eternal 
rest" leads into the new city on the east, and 
corresponds in every respect with the Tae- 
pinggatq^on the west. 

11. Ching-tung mun : — ^thisis the only gate 
on the east which leads into the old city^ 
and it corresponds with the Ching-se mun 
on the west, to which it stands directly 
opposite. 

12. SeaoU'pih mun : — -this " little northern 
gate" forms a convenient entrance for bring- 
ing in water and provisions, and also building 
materials, to supply the nprthern part of the 
city. Having now gone round the city, we 
pass to the inner gates. 

13. Kwei'tih mun : — reckoning from the 
west, this is the first gate in the wall which 
separates the old from the new city. 

14. Tae-nan mun : — " the great southern 
gate," is the second. 

15. Wan-ming mun is the third; and 

16. Ting-hae mun is the fourth, and last 
gate. 

Of these sixteen gates, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 

G 2 



124 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

4th, 6th, 6th, 7th, and 13th, as we have 
numbered them above, belong to the Nan- 
hae, and the other eight belong to the Pwan- 
yu district. A few soldiers are stationed at 
each of the gates, to watch them by day, 
and to close and guard them by night. 
They are shut at an early hour in the 
evening, and opened at dawn of day. Except 
on special occasions, no one is allowed to 
pass in or out during the night watches : but 
a small fee will usually open the way, 
yet always exposes the keepers to punish- 
ment." 

As regards the suburbs, the streets and 
buildings differ very little, if at all, from 
those within the walls. On the west, they 
spread out nearly in the form of an isosceles 
right-angled triangle, opening to the north- 
west, having the river on the south, and the 
western wall of the city, for its two equal 
sides. On the south, they occupy the whole 
space between the wall and the river. On 
the east, they are much less extensive than 
on the west. There are no buildings on the 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 125 

north, except a few small huts neai* the 
principal gate. Taken collectively, the 
suburbs are scarcely less extensive or less 
populous than the city within the walls. 

The streets of Canton are numerous. A 
catalogue enumerates the names of more 
than 600, among which we find the " dragon 
street ;" the '* flying dragon street ;" the 
*'martial dragon street ;' ' the " flower street ;" 
"the golden street;" the "golden flower 
street f and, among many more of a similar 
kind, are a few which would not bear trans- 
lation. There are several long streets, but 
most of them are short, and crooked; they 
vary in width from two to sixteen feet, but 
generally they are about six or eight feet 
wide, and are everywhere flagged with large 
stones, chiefly granite. The motley crowd 
that often throngs these streets is very great 
indeed. At a busy hour of the day, the 
stout, half-naked, vociferating porters, carry- 
ing every description of merchandise, and 
the nimble sedan-bearers, in noise and bustle 
make up for the deficiency of carts and 



126 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

carriages. These, together with the nume- 
rous travellers, various kind of retailers, 
peddlers, beggars, &c,, present before the 
spectator a scene which it would be difficult 
to describe. 

We learn from the Overland China Mail 
of August 23rd, that the province of Kwang- 
si is at present the theatre of a serious insur- 
rection, but whether on the part of the 
unsubdued tribes, or of the banditti who 
infest its borders is not very clearly ascer- 
tained. There is no doubt, however, that a 
large body of men are in actual rebellion 
against the Imperial authorities, over whom 
they have obtained some important advan- 
tages. Recently they have taken the chief 
city of the Ho district, a place of great 
commercial importance, bordering the pro- 
vince of Kwangtung on the north-west, the 
city being situated on a navigable branch of 
the Canton river. It is even stated on good 
authority that the rebels, 2,000 strong, have 
penetrated into Kwangtung, and are within 
100 miles of Canton city. 



A VOTAGB TO CHINA. 127 

The leader, who is named Li-ting-patig, 
has assumed the title borne by the highest 
Tartar Generals, and displays banners 
inscribed "Commissioned by Heaven to 
exterminate the Tsing (the present ManchuJ 
and restore the Ming (the former Chinese) 
dynasty." He is said to have under his 
command 50,000 men in all, which is pro- 
bably an exaggeration. He and his fellow 
chief, Tsau, are said to assume great state, 
and move about in chairs with four bearers. 
After a successful attack on Kong-mun in 
the district of Sz-hwui, the pawnshops were 
rifled, and 20,000 taels of silver extorted 
from a rich inhabitant ; after which about 
a hundred cookshops were set up to provide 
food for the band. 

It is ftirther reported, besides some persons 
of importance having fallen in fight, that 
the Governor of the province, and the chief 
magistrate of Woo-chau, have committed 
suicide in despair ; but these reports also 
require confirmation. 

The province contains many independent 



128 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

tribes, who have never owned subjection to 
the present dynasty. Some of them were 
in arms against the government in the be- 
ginning of last year. The measures adopted 
bySeu for its suppression have brought him 
into disgrace, and caused him the loss of 
four steps. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA/ 129 



CHAPTER VII. 

Some account of the Factories — The Houses described — 
Amusements and Diversions — The Canton Regatta — 
Chinese Ball — Amount of Population — The Flower Boats 
— Principal Streets of the City — The Shopkeepers — 
Inconvenience of Narrow Streets — A Chinese Mob — 
Number of Beggars — The Gates of Canton — ^New and old 
China Streets — Edible Birds' -Nests, an Article of great 
luxury — Mode of obtaining thcin attended with peril — 
Their value in the Market — Qualities attributed to this 
Curious Dish — The Sea-Slug orB^che-de-Mer — 'JTie Ani- 
mal described — Used as an article of Food — Supply of 
Sharks^-fins. 

Thb Factories are a fine row of new stone 
buildings, with streets leading to two rows 
in the rear. These are divided into Hongs, 
and in front of them, reaching down to the 
water's edge is a flower-garden with hand- 
some trees, laid out as a public walk for all 
the Europeans, or other residents inside the 
Factories, A wall and gate separate them 

G 3 



130 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

from the Chinese streets. The gate is closed 
at night, and no egress allowed until day- 
light. Most of the English merchants who 
live in the Factories have also houses at 
Hong Kong, between which and Canton 
they divide their time. 

The houses are well buflt*: the rooms are 
lofty, with balconies and verandahs outside 
for the inmates to walk under, and obtain a 
little fresh air. The table is supplied with 
great profusion : iced beer, and soda-water 
are always at hand ; the Chinese market sup- 
plying game, meat, fruit and vegetables, at 
very moderate prices, all the year round. 
Punkahs are required in summer. Nunje- 
rous servants and coolies belong to each 
establishment, all under the compradore, who 
is responsible for each man. 

In the hall of each house is a stand of 
arms for Europeans, and, on the other side, 
one for Chinamen, consisting of Chinese 
swords, spears, and shields made of cane, 
three feet in diameter; these are the arms 
of the native coolies attached to the Facto- 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 131 

ries : the others for the clerks, merchants, 
&c., who are all embodied in a sort of militia, 
which has more than once repelled a riot, 
and attempt to invade their quarters. 

The English, American, and Danish are 
the only flags flying in front of the buildings. 
A new church has been built at one end of 
the gardens. Beyond this, is the boat-house 
of the Canton regatta-clubs, and private 
amateurs. Walking out, riding and driving 
not being allowed there, every resident takes 
to the water as the only means left of 
acquiring health, exercise, and relaxation 
from business. 

Beautiful six and eight-oared cutters are 
built here on the most approved English 
models; wherries, skiffs, funnies, wager-boats, 
are all kept in first-rate order, and quite 
equal in numbers and style to anything I ever 
saw at Searle's, or Roberts', on the Thames. 
Those who prefer sailing keep handsome 
yachts from twenty to sixty tons, which the 
Chinamen handle exceedingly well, and form 



132 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

with their clean white sails a pretty contrast 
to the yellow mat sails of all the native craft. 
The Canton regatta for rowing and sail- 
ing-matches, is supported with great spirit, 
and are equal to any at home. It is followed 
by a ball which is all on one side, there 
being about ten ladies to one hundred 
gentlemen. This arises from the small 
number of ladies resident in Canton. After 
the English, the Americans are the most 
numerous class here: a few Portuguese, 
Dutch, Parsees, Musselmen, Hindoos, and 
Americans make up the rest of the foreign 
residents. 

Kwang-chow-foo is the Chinese name for 
the city of Canton, which is situated on the 
north side of the " Choo Keang," or Pearl 
river, in latitude 23 degrees north, longitude 
113 east of Greenwich. It was known, as we 
have already narrated, as a place of great 
importance, long before the Christian era, 
and contains at the present day 1,000,000 of 
inhabitants, besides 84,000 boats in front of 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 133 

the city, extending along several miles, each 
of which contains on an average three 
persons, forming a floating population of 
252,000 who live entirely on the water. 

The flower-boats are let out to hire on 
nuptial occasions, feasts, dancing or river 
excursions. They have a saloon fitted up 
with great elegance, and lighted at night 
with splendid lamps, music, dancing, and 
supper being provided by the owner for 
a stipulated sum, according to the wishes 
of the hirer. Rich natives, mandarins, and 
newly-married people are the only classes 
who support the flower-boats. 

The principal streets of Canton frequent- 
ed by foreigners, are China-streets, new 
and old. Physic-street, Carpenter-square, 
and a few of less note leading to them. In 
these streets all the tradesmen speak Chinese- 
English, and are uncommonly civil, honest, 
and obliging. A cup of tea and cakes are 
always ready ; they will trust you with goods 
to a considerable amount, by merely know- 
ing what ship you live in, and when you 



134 A VOYAGE OX) CHINA. 

pay them, will make you a present of any- 
thing you may fancy within reason, in the 
shop. Some will not abate a cent, asking a 
fair price for their goods, as Chungwo at 
No. 2, New China-street, the most worthy 
Chinaman I ever met : with others caution 
must be used, as they are likely to take half 
the price first asked. 

The houses have all two stories, a narrow 
frontage, and, being built of wood, fires are 
of frequent occurrence. The streets are 
paved with large blocks of granite laid trans- 
versely, and seldom exceed five or six feet 
in width. Horses and carriages are unknown, 
every thing being carried by coolies, who 
rush past you with their loads, calling out 
to you to avoid them, which requires all 
a pedestrian's attention to do effectually. 
These men have so much " way on," that 
they cannot stop, and it is but fair that 
people should give way to them. 

Occasionally, a sedan-chair, carried by 
two coolies, having a mandarin, or rich 
native inside, passes by: a chair of this 



A VOTAOB TO CHINA. 135 

sort is also used by Europeans, when it 
rains, or when they wish to escort a lady 
on a Chinese shopping expedition, which to 
the mob is a great curiosity ; the natives 
assemble in great numbers round the shop, 
stare and chatter, but ofiPer no rudeness. 
I doubt whether a Chinese lady walking 
about in London, would meet with so little 
molestation. 

I have frequently ventured a couple of 
miles from the usual resort of stoangers, 
where a white man's appearance caused a 
great sensation. Once, whilst in a shop 
buying a cap, I found a mob surrounding 
the house, and in a few minutes the shop 
was full of people, all staring at m€, and in 
dose proximity, until I told my servant to 
drive them out, which he soon did. Ita 
some of these distant shops, where Euro- 
peans never go, they appear not to care 
about your custom, and seem almost afraid 
of your being seen in the shop by the crowd 
outside. 

Beggars are very common, and go about 



136 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

with a gong, making a noise, until the 
person whose house they enter gives them 
some money, when they are bound to depart, 
but not until then. 

One street is filled with nothing but 
looking-glass, dressing-case, and compass 
shops. In one of these, they asked me half- 
a-dollar for a compass, but ended in giving 
me four for the same sum. 

I have often passed by the gates of Canton, 
and once nearly went through, but was 
politely told by a soldier, and an old China- 
man, " No, no !'' with a significant shake of 
the head. 

These gates are old, and have nothing re- 
markable but their interdiction to Fanquis : 
I have looked through them into the long 
streets leading from them, and saw no difier- 
ence between those in the interior, and the 
streets outside, which many intelligent 
natives have assured me are the best and 
widest. The name and calling of each 
shopkeeper are hung perpendicularly before 
his door, in large gilt characters, the Chinese 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 137 

language being written from top to bottom, 
instead of horizontally. In New and Old 
China-streets, the names are all written in 

English. 

Among the various articles exposed for 
sale to the natives, in the innumerable streets 
of Canton, two deserve especial notice : these 
are the birds'-nests, and the sea-slugs. The 
edible birds'-nests, which owe their celebrity 
only to the whimsical luxury of the Chinese, 
are brought principally from Java and Suma- 
tra, though they are found on most of the 
rocky islets of the Indian Archipelago. 

The nest is the habitation of a small swal- 
low, named (from the circumstance of having 
an edible house) hirundo esculenia. They are 
composed of a mucilaginous substance, but 
as yet have never been analyzed with suffi- 
cient accuracy to show the constituents. 
Externally, they resemble ill-concocted, 
fibrous isinglass, and are of a white colour, 
inclining to red. Their thickness is little 
more than that of a silver spoon, and the 
weight from a quarter to half an ounce. 



y^ 



138 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

When dry, they are brittle, and wrinkled ; 
the size is nearly that of a goose's egg. 
Those that are dry, white, and clean, are 
the most valuable. They are packed in 
bundles, with split rattans run through them 
to preserve the shape. Those procured after 
the young are fledged are not saleable in 
China. 

The quality of the nests, varies according 
to the situation and extent of the caves, and 
the time at which they are taken. If pro- 
cured before the young are fledged, the 
nests are of the best kind ; if they contain 
eggs only, they are still valuable ; but, if the 
young are in the nests, or have left them, 
the whole are then nearly worthless, being 
dark- coloured, streaked with blood, and 
intermixed with feathers and dirt. 

These nests are procurable twice every 
year ; the best are found in deep, damp caves, 
which, if not injured, will continue to pro- 
duce indefinitely. It was once thought 
that the caves near the sea-coast were the 
most productive; but some of the most 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 139 

profitable yet found, are situated fifty miles 
in the interior. This fact seems to be 
against the opinion, that the nests are 
composed of the spawn of fish,or of beche-de* 
mer. 

The method of procuring these nests is 
not unattended with danger. Some of the 
caves are so precipitous, that no one, but 
those accustomed to the employment from 
their youth, can obtain the nests, being only 
approachable by a perpendicular descent of 
many hundred feet, by ladders pf bamboo 
and rattan, over a sea rolling violently 
against the rocks. When the mouth of the 
cave is attained, the perilous task of taking 
the nests must often be 'performed by torch- 
light, by penetrating into recesses of the 
rock, where the slightest slip would be 
instantly fatal to the adventurers, who see 
nothing below them but the turbulent surf, 
making its way into the chasms of the rock 
—such is the price paid to gratify luxury. 
After the nests are obtained, they are 



separated from feathers and dirt, are care- 



140 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

fully dried and packed, and are then fit for 
the market. The Chinese, who are the only 
people that purchase them for their own use, 
bring them in junks to this market, where 
they command extravagant prices ; the best, 
or white kind, often being worth four thou- 
sand doDars per pecul,* which is nearly 
twice their weight in silver. The middling 
kind is worth from twelve to eighteen hun- 
dred, and the worst, or those procured 
after fledging, one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred dollars per pecul. The majority of 
the best kind are sent to Pekin, for the use 
of the Court. 

It appears, therefore, that this curious dish 
is only an article of expensive luxury 
amongst the Chinese ; the Japanese do not 
use it at all, and how the former people 
acquired the habit of indulging in it, is only 
less singular than their persevering in it. 

They consider the edible bird's-nest as a 
great stimulant, tonic, and aphrodisiac, but 

* A Chinese weight, equal to 133ilbs. avoirdupois. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 14 1 

its best quality, perhaps, is its being perfectly 
harmless. The labour bestowed to render 
it fit for the table is enormous ; every feather, 
stick, or impurity of any kind; is carefully 
removed ; and then, after undergoing many 
washings and preparations, it is made into 
a soft, delicious jelly. The sale of birds'- 
ne^ts is a monopoly with all the governments 
in whose dominions they are found. About 
two hundred and fifty thousand peculs, at 
a value of one million four hundred thousand 
dollars, are annually brought to Canton. 
These come from the islands of Java, Suma- 
tra, Macassar, and those of the Sooloo group. 
Java alone sends about thirty thousand 
pounds, mostly of the first quality, estimated 
at seventy thousand dollars. 

I am indebted for much information on 
this curious article of commerce, to the 
captain of a Java ship, a very well informed 
man, trading regularly to China, who had 
large quantities on board, and whose wife, 
a native of that country, to satisfy my 
curiosity, prepared a dinner for lOQ of Chinese 



142 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

dishes, including the bird's-nest and the sea- 
slug, both of which I partook of, and found 

them very palateable. 

The sea-slug, or b^he-de-mer, as its name 
imports, is a native of the sea, and resembles 
that often seen in damp places on land. It 
forms the most important article of com- 
merce between the islands of the Indian 
Archipelago and China. It is found on all 
the islands, from New Holland to Sumatra, 
and also on most of those in the Pacific. It is 
produced in the greatest abundance on small 
coral islands, especially those to the south and 
east of the Sooloo group. 

Among the islanders it is known by the 
name of trepang ; the Chinese at Canton 
call it hoy-shum. It is an ill-looking animal, 
and has but few powers of locomotion, in 
common with other gasteropodce. It is some- 
times more than a foot long; but its common 
length is from four to ten inches, and its 
diameter from one to two. Its tentaculse 
are short ; and, when the animal is captured, 
are folded up under its body. It is taken 



A VOYAaB TO CHINA. 143 

with the hand by the natives, who often dive 
for it ; and, after it has been cleansed, dried, 
and smoked, it is fit for the market. 

For a long time, the Chinese were the 
sole carriers of the article: but recently 
foreigners have engaged in the trade, and 
found it profitable. In the market it 
appears hard and rigid, and is of a dirty 
brown colour. The Chinese use it by itself, 
or as an ingredient in other dishes, and in 
large quantities. The varieties into which 
they divide it are about thirty, varying in 
price from eighty down to two dollars 
per pecul. Great quantities are annually 
brought from Manilla, Macassar, and other 
islands. 

Sharks'-fins are also a great article of con- 
sumption. They are sought for from the 
Indian Ocean to the Sandwich Islands for 
the Chinese market. The chief supply is 
from Bombay and the Persian Gulf, few 
ships coming from the former of these places 
without having sharks'-fins as part of the 
cargo. These fins are fat, cartilaginous, and 



144 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

when cooked esteemed by the Chinese as a 
stimulant and a tonic. They should be 
well dried and kept from any moisture. 
About 500 pieces are contained in a pecul; 
the price is from twenty to forty-five dollars 
per pecul. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 145 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Good Accommodation at Acow's Hotel — Doctor Parker*! 
Hospital, and the Patients therein — Diminutive Feet of 
the Ladies — Barbarous Fashion — Chinese Wives — ^A 
Converted Chinaman — Account of the Feast of Lanterns 
— ^A Walk round the City of Canton, undertaken by the 
Author — A Disagreeable Quarter — Pleasing Landscape 
— ^Water-Carriers — View of the Interior of the City — 
Burial-ground — Crowded Suburbs — A School — Coolies 
and Market People — Fatiguing exertion — Ferocity of a 
Canton Mob^Murder of the Governor of Macao — ^Are 
the Chinese Cruel, or not — ^Infanticide — Sale of Children 
— Apathy as to the Preservation of Life — Chinaman 
rescued from a Watery Grave — Revolting modes of 
Torture — Selfish Feelings— Progress of Civilization, 

Lately a very convenient hotel and 
table-d'-h6te have been kept, close to the 
factories, by Acow, whose reasonable prices 
and good accommodation render it the usual 
resort of visitors, who, having no friends to 
reside with, must otherwise be obliged to 
return to Whampoa for the night. The great 

VOL. IL H 



146 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

hospitality I met with amongst my Canton 
friends prevented me from availing my self of 
Mr. Acow's advantages. Both the hotel and 
billiard-table are well supported. 

Dr. Parker's hospital, open gratuitously 
to all indigent natives, is well attended by 
them. Most of these are out-door patients, 
but a few beds are made up for serious opera- 
tions. He has a native assistant, who is very 
clever, and attends to cases of minor import- 
ance. Great numbers of patients apply for 
cataract, ectropium, ptosis, and other diseases 
of the eye, common here. Tumours, reach- 
ing to an enormous size, occurring on all 
parts of the body, have been often removed 
by Dr. Parker with great success. 

I frequently attended on his operating 
day ; and once had the good luck to see a 
Chinese lady's small foot, which caused her 
so much pain that she could not walk. 

Dr. Parker is frequently consulted by 
Chinese females for the inconvenience arising 
from this absurd custom. The very small 
size to which the feet of some of the Chinese 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 147 

females have been distorted by cramping them 
with bandages during the first six years of 
their lives is almost beyond belief. It is quite 
common to see a full-grown woman wearing 
shoes, and walking in them too, not more 
than three inches long. Their walk resem- 
bles that of a timid boy upon ice ; some of 
them require the aid of a staff in one hand, 
while they lean with the other on the 
shoulder of a female attendant. 

The smaller the eyes and feet of a Chinese 
beauty the more she is admired. A respect- 
able Chinaman being asked what he thought 
of this custom of cramping their daughters' 
feet, replied : " very bad custom." He added 
that his own daughters' feet had been sub- 
jected to the cruel ordeal by their mother 
against his will, and that, in a Chinaman's 
house, where there were young girls, no 
peace could be had, night or day, for their 
cries, which lasted till they were six years 
old. He gave the following reason for the 
mother's insisting on her daughter's submit- 
ting to this long course of pain and suffering. 

H 2 



148 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

" Suppose he no small foot, no man wantjee 
make he number one wife.'' 

A respectable Chinaman, it appears, 
always chooses a small-footed woman for his 
principal wife ; while for number two, three, 
and four he contents himself with ladies 
whose feet are as nature made them, and 
who are consequently more able to make 
themselves useful in household matters. 

" Of most of the women we saw," ob- 
serves Sir George Staunton, *^ even in the 
middle and inferior classes, the feet were 
unnaturally small, or rather truncated. 
They appeared as if the fore part of the 
foot had been accidentally cut off, leaving 
the remainder of the usual size, and ban- 
daged like the stump of an amputated limb. 
They undergo, indeed, much torment, and 
cripple themselves in a great measure, in 
imitation of ladies of higher rank, among 
whom it is the custom to stop by pressure 
the growth of the ankle as well as foot from 
the earliest infancy ; and leaving the great 
toe in its natural position, forcibly to bend 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 149 

the others, and retain them under the foot, 
till at length they adhere to, as if buried in 
the sole, and can no more be separated." 

The Feast of Lanterns took place during 
my stay in Canton ; it lasts four days, and 
is the great national holiday — a sort of car- 
nival. Theatres are erected at the end of 
each street, and the most ludicrous per- 
formances take place in public, accompanied 
with the beating of gongs and other dis- 
cordant sounds. Around these exhibitions 
the mob stand gazing from morning till 
night, when every house is illuminated, and 
the streets are hung with innumerable lan- 
terns. Many of these are extremely beau- 
tiful, which have a very novel effect. I went 
out each night, and mingled with the thickest 
of the Chinese mob without any molestation 
whatever. 

Crackers are let off all day in the streets, 
and no business is thought of by any native. 
Little children are adorned with flowers, and 
held up by their fathers to see the sights. I 
have always noticed as a good trait in the 



150 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

character of the Chinese, — their great atten- 
tion to young children. 

A great feat to accomplish is to walk 
completely round the city of Canton, follow- 
ing the walls, which are very thick, the 
lower half being stone, the upper brick, with 
watch-houses on the top at equal distances, 
and cannon, few of which are visible. The 
distance being about eight miles, the excur- 
sion must be commenced by starting at 
four in the morning, so that the pedestrian 
may get back by half-past six, thus going 
through the lowest and most crowded part 
before anybody is awake and stirring. The 
offensive smell in these narrow parts is be- 
yond conception ; the houses are so small that 
many men were asleep with their heads out 
in the street, the room not being long enough 
to admit that part of the individual. 

This unpleasant quarter being got through, 
you come suddenly to the rural side of the 
city; few habitations are seen, but green 
fields, gardens, and thick bamboo trees, with 
hills in the distance form a very pretty 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 151 

landscape. At this part, the walls are much 
higher and stronger than where they are 
surrounded with houses. Some springs of 
beautifully clear water are about half way 
round, and several natives, filling buckets, 
were very civil in allowing us to drink out 
of one. 

From these springs a footpath leads to 
the top of a hill, upon which is a large fort. 
The gates were closed, and nobody appeared 
on the "premises:'' from this eminence a 
good view of the interior of the city may be 
obtained. The morning was rather foggy 
at that early hour, and I could only see 
partially the pagodas, temples, and other 
public buildings in this celebrated city, 
which by us can never be viewed from any 
other spot than this. 

Leaving the fort, we follow the foot-path 
through an extensive Chinese burial-ground, 
some of the tombstones having semi-circular 
seats, and looking like small temples. After 
this, we begin to fall in with crowded 
suburbs : many houses occupied by weavers 



152 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

effecting by hand what we do by niachinery. 
The noise of a school next attracted our atten- 
tion, in which little children were learning to 
write with a reed upon boards sprinkled with 
red sand. A few horses turned out to 
grass, and one man on horseback, the first 
I had seen in China, were objects of 
novelty. 

We came now to a crowded street, with 
good shops, and everybody moving, all 
staring at us, boys running at our heels, 
vociferating '^Fan-qui" to such a degree 
that I was compelled to drive them away 
with my stick. A funeral procession, appa- 
rently of some mandarin, or wealthy person, 
passed by, of which some account is given 
in the description of Singapore. 

Coolies and market-people, all with differ- 
ent loads, began now to swarm, some carry- 
ing baskets full of cats, kittens, puppies, and 
rats, all of which are food partaken of by the 
natives. I have more than once seen them 
weigh a kitten in the market, feel it as we 
would a turkey, and walk off with it. Every 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 153 

thing in China is sold by weight, fruit, fish, 
fowls, vegetables, and even liquids. 

On approaching the Factories, which our 
entrance into Physic Street soon indicated, 
.we found the difference by the Chin-chins, 
and friendly nods of the tradesmen, which 
after such an excursion amongst people of 
doubtful temper and well-known hostility to 
strangers, were very acceptable. 

We arrived at our quarters at half-past 
six, two hours and a half being employed in 
the trip. We were dreadfully fatigued, 
having to keep up with the fast walking of 
our leader, a long-legged man, who had often 
been round before, and knew that moving 
on quick is the best means of avoiding any 
collision with evil-disposed natives and groups 
of idlers who are constantly met with. One 
man grasped me by the arm as I passed by 
him, but I took no notice of it, " the better 
part of valour being discretion.'' 

A walk round the city is only safe at that 
early hour, without arms of any kind, which 
could be of no avail against the thousands 

h3 



154 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

y 

pouring out upon you in a moment, and by 
strict attention not to give the slightest 
offence to anybody, even if insulted. No- 
thing can equal the ferocity of a Canton 
mob, or the danger of a collision with them 
on such unfrequented ground. 

A few weeks after, when the treacherous 
murder of the Governor of Macao took 
place, and created a great deal of exaspera- 
tion against the Chinese at Macao, where 
the Portuguese killed seventy at the taking 
of one fort, under protection of English 
guns, such a trip would have been highly 
imprudent and dangerous, the populace being 
well au fait of the politics of the day, and 
requiring very little stimulus to attack and 
murder you when strolling out on such 
harmless excursions. 

A question has arisen whether the Chinese 
are a cruel people, or not? Opinions in 
England on this point are divided. The 
middle and lower classes that come under 
our immediate observation appear good tem- 
pered and cheerful, showing no particular 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 155 

signs, in their general bearing, that could 
justify us in regarding them as hard-hearted- 
Some startling discrepancies, however, 
occasionally disturb our j udgmen t . Infanti- 
cide is practised among them — ^parents being 
allowed to destroy their female offspring 
when ushered into life, should they consider 
themselves unable to provide for them, and 
to sell their daughters, when more advanced 
in age, as slaves, or for any other purposes. 
The first of these acts would be punished in 
England by death ; the last is one that we 
must all look upon with abhorrence. Custom 
and the sanction of the law reconcile both to 
Chinese minds. They are regarded in China 
with indifference, as ordinary occurrences, 
perhaps by many who would feel a horror at 
committing any violence upon the person, or 
life, of their fellow man. 

A very singular apathy as regards the 
preservation of human life has been observed 
in cases, where, by a little exertion, it might 
have been saved. If any one should fall 
into the water, and none but strangers are 



156 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

near, it is ten to one but the unfortunate 
individual is suffered to perish. Foreigners 
on not a few occasions have saved persons 
from drowning, when their own countrymen 
have looked on without making a single 
effort. 

Whether there exists any superstition 
among the Chinese that prevents them from 
saving the life of a drowning man or not, 
we are uninformed, but it looks as if there 
did. However loth they are to aid each 
other in such cases, they would, if similarly 
circumstanced, be very glad to receive assist- 
ance ; for those that have been rescued by 
Europeans from a watery grave have always 
evinced their thankfulness to their preservers, 
and not unfrequently expressed their grati- 
tude in the strongest terms. 

Not many years ago, some gentlemen of 
the Company's establishment, who were at 
the second bar despatching one of the ships, 
were fortunate enough to save the lives of 
several Chinese, whose boat had upset not 
far from them. The people were taken care 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. I 57 

of, and sent on their way — no one expecting 
to hear any more about them. But a few 
days after, the gentlemen, to their great sur- 
prise, were waited upon at their factory in 
Canton, by the persons they had rescued, 
accompanied by a "deputation" from the 
village to which they belonged. These per- 
sons had come to express their gratitude and 
obligation to the kind foreigners. 

The Chinese used to be considered un- 
mindful of favours or assistance received at 
our hands, but this was a striking instance 
to the contrary, and a most creditable excep- 
tion. The people are generally observed to 
be most accommodating to each other in the 
streets and on the river, where we are in the 
daily habit of seeing them, although quarrels 
sometimes, of course, occur in both places. 

Reduced to order and good behaviour by 
the strong arm of the law always extended 
over them, it is difficult to form a correct 
estimate of the real character and disposi- 
tion of the Chinese. But we may arrive at 
something like certainty upon a little more 



158 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

reflection. It is ^vell known that they 
attach great importance to outward forms, 
and that no people, not even our neighbours, 
the French, are more ceremonious. Where 
there is so much on the surface, we always 
suspect that there is not much to be looked 
for below it ; and that insincerity, pride, or 
cruelty, may lurk under a cringing address, 
or a countenance always lighted up with 
smiles. 

The severity of the law under which they 
live, and of the method of imposing its penal- 
ties, may impart a tinge of cruelty to them, 
in minds accustomed to reflect upon such 
matters until they become familiar. Many 
persons must have seen the coloured draw- 
ings of their modes of inflicting torture upon 
suffering humanity, — so refined in cruelty, 
so revolting to the thought, and disgusting 
to the eye, that the averted head is turned 
from them with a feeling of horror ! 

The realities of such representations must 
be enough to unhumanize any people. It is 
feared that the morality they boast of is a 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 159 

mere pretence; something to talk about, and 
to make a show of. That and the law, how- 
ever, are the only checks that prevent them 
from preying on each other. 

Not looking beyond the earth upon which 
they live, they have nothing else to restrain 
them. Their moral sajdngs are mere saws, 
based on no foundation to give them force 
and proper application; and, like tinkling 
sounds, are addressed to the ear instead of to 
the heart of the hearer. With a govern- 
ment more liberal, and more tinctured with 
humanity, we might place greater confidence 
in the people^ whose dispositions would take 
their tone from it. 

The policy of Chinese legislators, how- 
ever, is to set the people against us, and 
therefore we cannot rely upon either the one 
or the other. Personal profit and aggran- 
dizement are all they look forward to ; and, 
so long as we are instrumental in pampering 
those selfish feelings, so long will they pro- 
fess to be our friends. But empty and hol- 
low are their promises, and fragile the ties 



160 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

that bind them to us. There is no security 
for us in future but the strong arm of power, 
such as we can wield for our protection, 
and, in case of need, for their repeated pun- 
ishment whenever they break faith with us. 
We have been taught at home to consider 
them as a mild, inoffensive people, " more 
sinned against than sinning;" but they have 
themselves undeceived us, and we see through 
our error. 

The great advances the Chinese have made 
in useful arts, connected with agriculture, 
public works, dress, and their domestic com- 
forts, have exerted a great influence in rais- 
ing them above the untutored savage, and 
have brought them considerably within the 
verge of civilization. Their remote acquire- 
ments of the art of writing, and subsequently 
of stereotype-printing, have been productive 
of an immense accumulation of books, form- 
ing altogether a storehouse of knowledge on 
subjects in which they feel an interest, handed 
down to them from age to age, and applied 
to their past and present perceptions. But 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 161 

still they are far behind what the Greeks 
and Eomans were in taste and refinement. 

In painting and sculpture, the Chinese 
are mere novices, and their productions, 
although a good deal raised above those of 
the first efibrts of mankind to produce re- 
semblances by the aid of colours, and the 
knife or shell, are infinitely below our stand- 
ard of mediocrity. They have no taste in 
that way, and their minds appear to be 
too obtuse to be susceptible of fine impres- 
sions. They have not even approached that 
state of perfection to enable us to say of 
them, " Ingenuas didicissejideliter artes, emoU 
lit mores^ nee sinit esseferos.^^ 

Their refinement, measured by that of 
those classic times, is as brass compared with 
pure molten gold. In those particular arts 
which exhibit the improvement of the intel- 
lect, and the enjoyment of the heart in sim- 
ple pleasures, they are still barbarians. Pic- 
tures enough, and sculptures enough, are 
everywhere to be found among them, but 
none of them are copies of nature. There is 



162 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

one department of those arts, however, in 
which they excel, which is the grotesque. 
Flowers, birds, and fish are pretty well exe- 
cuted, and at carving in ivory and other 
materials they have not their equals. But 
the human face and figure are quite carica- 
tured ; and nothing shows more completely 
the deficiency in science than their wretched 
attempts at landscape, in which every object 
is most absurdly arranged and miserably out 
of proportion. The fine arts, as practised 
by them, have helped on their civilization a 
little, and only a little. With the exception 
of a few airs, that attract our attention as 
possessing some melody, their music is exe- 
crable. Whatever it may be to them^ it is 
only a complication of noisy and unpleasant 
sounds to us. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 163 



CHAPTER IX. 

Another Morning's Excursion- -The Execution-Ground — 
Heads of the Criminals exposed to Public View — Crosses 
for Strangling — ^The Reverend T. Ball — Number of Exe- 
cutions — Women Strangled — Difficulty for a Stranger to 
be present — Politeness of Mr. Walkinshaw — ^A Visit to 
Howqua's House and Gardens — Insolence of the Chinese 
— Captain Hay's Expedition in quest of the Pirate -Chief, 
Shap-tin-Sai — Destruction of his Fleet — Mock Philan- 
thropists — Character of Sir J. Brooke — Island of Amoy 
— Province of Shang-hai — Monotony of Chinese Land- 
scapes. 

Another morning's excursion was to the 
execution-ground, two miles from the facto- 
ries, and not far from the river : there is 
some difficulty in finding it out, servants 
not liking to escort you to such places, and 
actually refusing to do so. At last we 
came upon the spot, which is the wide part 
of a populous street, with a wall on one 
side, and a row of potteries on the other. 



164 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

A narrow shed, about fifteen feet long 
and four wide, covered with bamboos and 
open in front, with a plank about a foot 
high from the ground, contains, exposed to 
public view, the heads of the criminals, in 
all stages of decomposition, up to the most 
recent date. I should think that there could 
not have been less than forty, as they formed 
two layers, filling the entire space of ground 
enclosed in the shed. The ofi^ensive smell 
prevented me from making more minute 
observations, but I noticed all the tails 
were cut off, which is done before behead- 
ing. 

Half-a-dozen large, wooden crosses, for 
strangling, which is the punishment for 
certain offences, were standing against the 
wall, beyond the shed. Hearing from my 
servant that an American missionary lived 
near this spot, I called on him to know a 
little more about it, as so many rumours of 
executions of from twenty to thirty people 
taking place daily, did not appear to me to be 
well-founded. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 165 

The Reverend T. Ball has lived for many 
years here, keeps a missionary school, and 
has taken much interest in the capital 
punishments. Having a converted native 
living with him, he has been able to gather 
the most correct information on the subject, 
and I am indebted to him for the following 
remarks. 

The population of the province of Kwang- 
tung contains twenty-nine millions of in- 
habitants, and all the criminals sentenced 
to death must be executed at Canton, 
the capital. The number averages from 
three to five hundred a year. The largest 
number, eight hundred, took place last 
year, probably owing to the increase of 
piracy, and to the greater severity of the 
present Viceroy, Seu. This year, up to the 
present time, 1st October, 1849, the number 
was two hundred and eighty. The greatest 
number executed in one day, was forty-nine 
— the smallest, one. The most usual number 
is from ten to twenty-five. The longest 
interval between the days of execution, a 



166 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

month : two or three times a week is not 
unusual. 

Nearly all the men are beheaded with a 
large sword : their hands being tied, they 
kneel down, with their faces towards Pekin, 
the Emperor's residence, and the head 
is struck off at one blow. Women are 
strangled : of these, not more than one or two 
a year suffer. One woman, for parricide, was 
cut up into forty-eight pieces : the number 
of pieces varies from twelve to twenty-four, 
thirty- six, &c. One man was flogged to 
death with bamboos : many are beaten before 
execution. Most of these criminals are 
condemned by the local authorities, but 
a portion by order of the Emperor, doubtful 
cases being referred to him for decision. 

The executions often take place in the 
afternoon, but the time is uncertain. A 
mandarin of high judicial rank is always 
present, sitting behind a screen. Soldiers 
guard the approaches, and the crowd of 
rabble is very great. The heads are thrown 
under the shed, where they remain as a 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 167 

warning to the people, until they become 
bleached in the sun ; the bodies can be car- 
ried off for interment by the friends.* 
People are found to inhabit the houses oppo- 
site this very receptacle of two or three score 
of heads, the distance not being ten yards 
apart, and these sanguinary scenes enacted 
constantly under their eyes. 

A foreigner would have great difficulty 
in getting allowed to be present at an exe- 
cution. It could only be done, by paying 
a Chinaman living on the spot for a seat at 
his ^window, and dressing in a common 
Chinese dress, so as not to be observed by 
the rabble, which would be attended with 
great danger. I fully purposed to attempt 
this, with Mr. Ball's assistance, but illness 
prevented me from carrying my intention 
into effect. 

To the almost princely hospitality of Mr. 
Mackean, of the house of Turner and Co., 

* Persons condemned to death may procure a substitute, 
who can be found on payment of a sum of money. 



168 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

and to the excessive kindness of my friend, 
Mr. Walkinshaw, of the same house, I am 
indebted for most of the advantages I enjoyed 
of sight-seeing, in this to us, almost " tabood" 
city. Mr. Walkinshaw procured for me 
permission to visit Howqua's gardens and 
residence. He is the son of the great Hong 
merchant, and one of the few grandees 
who allow the presence of foreigners in his 
private domain. We ascended the river in a 
" matrimony boat," pulled by eight lusty 
natives, and, about two miles from the city, 
entered a canal, crowded like the river with 
all sorts of boats. We soon came to the 
Fa- tee gardens, kept by a Chinaman in 
beautiful style, and intended to supply the 
factories with all sorts of flowers, plants, 
seeds, and for private use, or exportation. 

Here, amongst other novelties, I saw 
growing, for the first time, the tea-plant, 
which is principally found in the northern 
districts; many summer-houses, basins full 
of fish, and small trees, cut and fashioned 

* See Appendix. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 169 

SO as to represent some animal, or bird. 
Deer, dogs, cows, tigers, men, and birds, 
are thus very faithfully reproduced, in a 
living, vegetable form. Another curiosity 
is a forest of miniature trees, all growing 
in a stand, a few feet broad. These trees 
are not more than six or eight inches high, 
and are frequently put on the table, as dinner 
ornaments. Large quantities of strong 
porcelain garden seats and vases, were also 
kept for sale. 

Leaving these gardens, we proceeded up 
the Canal, having well-built houses along 
its banks, with numerous small-footed girls 
and women standing at the doors, and 
looking at us with amazement. 

On arriving at Howqua's gardens, we 
landed, amidst a crowd who, in China, 
always collect at a moment's notice, entered 
the gates, and gave our permit to the house- 
keeper, or head gardener. He took us all 
over the grounds, which are very extensive, 
and are beautifully laid out, as is re? 

VOL. II. X 



170 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

presented in Chinese paintings, familiar to 
everybody: artificial lakes and rivers, with 
light bridges across them, leading to caverns, 
kiosks, pagodas, grottoes, and imitation pre- 
cipices, with a path leading to the summit : 
fruit-trees, flowers, and porcelain ornaments 
of all descriptions, too numerous to examine 
separately, altogether forming one of the 
most curious and interesting sights it is 
possible to imagine. 

We were next introduced into the apart- 
ments, all fitted up and ornamented in the 
most costly pure Chinese style, with stair- 
cases leading out to the roof, which formed 
a promenade on the top of the house, with 
a fine view of the adjacent country. 

On leaving these gardens, we observed a 
little inland a sort of booth, covered inside 
with gilded josses and ornaments of all de- 
scriptions. This was in honour of some 
idols, but the rejoicings would not take 
place before night. I landed, to ascertain 
if the temper of the people would render it 



A VOYAGE -rt) CHINA. 171 

safe for a lady to step on shore to look at 
it, and finding them civil, we all returned 
to the place, meeting with nothing but chin- 
chins from all the people. 

A steam-frigate being always at anchor 
just above the Factories, is some sort of 
protection to the residents, and well enough 
they want it. The apathy of our Govern- 
ment in not enforcing the clause in the 
treaty, that provided for the gates of 
Canton being open to Englishmen at a cer- 
tain time, which having arrived, was not 
acceded to by the Chinese authorities, who 
thus still set our treaties at defiance, is 
construed by the populace into inability and 
fear on our part to enforce it. 

Their contemptuous insolent manner to- 
wards foreigners of late, arising from their, 
having carried their point unnoticed, and 
unpunished, is evident to everybody, and, if 
we continue much longer to give way to 
them by such weak policy, we must not be 
surprised to hear some day of the factories 
being razed to the ground, and all the 

i2 



172 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

residents destroyed. I look upon them as 
living on a volcano, likely at any moment to 
burst out when least expected ; for Canton, 
with its million of hostile inhabitants, sepa- 
rated from them by a wall, can be compared 
to nothing else. But, were they taught to 
fear us, that fear would be a sufficient safe- 
guard for our countrymen to live amongst 
them, as the *' civis sum Romanus^^^ was a 
protection in ancient times to a Roman 
citizen all over the world. 

The propriety of having bargained for the 
entry of Englishmen into the city, may be 
of very doubtful utility ; but, when once it 
has become an article in a treaty with a 
nation so famed for treachery and duplicity, 
it should be enforced either by persuasion, 
or by the sword. If their objections on 
that point are so great as not to be overcome, 
let them off from complying with it by 
payment of a heavy sum instead, or by the 
cession of Dane's Island, which could be 
fortified, and made a useful ^^ pied a terre'^ 
for the factory merchants, or other Euro- 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 1 73 

pean residents in Whampoa. A steamer 
going up and down would convey the 
merchants to their countinor-houses in Can- 
ton, and back to their bungalows on Dane's 
Island. The occupation of Dane's Island 
should have been made a '^sine qud non*^ in 
the treaty, and nothing said about entrance 
into the gates, which after all can only 
satisfy our curiosity, as all the mercantile 
aflFairs can be equally well transacted outside. 

Whilst the Canton Government is behav- 
ing in this way, what a contrast is going 
on in our conduct towards them ! Captain 
Hay, in the " Columbine," with the '' Phle- 
gethon" and " Canton" steamers, goes in 
search of the notorious pirate-chief, Shap-tin- 
sai, who, with his numerous fleet had pillaged 
every junk, or native craft, along the coast; 
and, not content with that, had landed on dif- 
ferent parts, burned towns and villages, car- 
ried forts, and was the terrpr of Mandarin 
governors, who had no force to repel him. 

Captain Hay, after almost a hopeless 
cruise, fortunately fell in on the fifth day 



174 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

with the rovers fleet at anchor in one of the 
numerous bays of the coast of Cochin 
China. It consisted of eighty large junks^ 
carrying from thirty to forty guns each, and 
having on board between 4,000 and 5,000 
fighting men. The attack commenced and 
lasted for several hours : shot and shell were 
poured into the pirates from our ships ; one 
after the other, took fire or blew up, and at 
last the flag-junk of Shap-ting-sai also took 
fire. He escaped in a fast boat, pulled by 
forty men, loaded with treasure, his vessel 
blowing up a few minutes after. 

Several thousand natives assembled on the 
shore, and killed with their spears about 
1,000 of the pirates, who had escaped from 
the junks by swimming. Five junks slipped 
and put to sea, our vessels not being able to 
follow them from the state of the tide. 
The Mandarins, who had so long stood in 
awe of this fierce marauder, received the 
English captains with great hospitality and 
thankfulness. It is considered that this 
extermination of so powerful a fleet will 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 175 

give a death-blow to piracy in these seas for 
some time to come, at least on such a 
wholesale scale. Very little doubts are 
entertained of the " Sylph" opium-clipper, 
and a few other missing vessels, about that 
time having been cut off by them. The 
*' Dido" was chased by them, and saw the 
"Sylph" becalmed nearer in shore; the 
" Dido " arrived safe at Singapore, but the 
other was never heard of.* 

I was rather amused, on my arrival in 
England, to hear that the " Saints'' had been 
declaiming against the destruction of pirates 
in the East, and trying to asperse the repu- 
tation of Sir James Brooke, that great and 
real benefactor of his fellow-creatures, whose 
spotless name is fortunately beyond the 
reach of the cant, or malice of such igno- 
rant mock-philanthropists. 

Sir Robert Inglis, in alluding in the 
House of Commons to the attack on Sir 
James Brooke, said, " The question at issue 
was the character of one of the ablest, and 

* See Appendix, 



176 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

most gallant, and most humane men who 
ever exercised authority in the name of 
England in any part of the world, and he 
felt it to be an honour to express his strong 
feeling in favour of such a man. They had 
been asked where was the evidence of piracy? 
Why, the judge at Singapore held in his 
hand the depositions of persons who had 
either seen, or had suffered from the acts of 
pirates. 

" He repeated, that there never had ap- 
peared in the dependencies of England, in a 
distant part of the globe, one who did more 
honour to the name of England than the 
Rajah of Sarawak, Sir James Brooke, and he 
was sure any one might feel it a privilege to 
call himself a friend of that distinguished 
man." 

Macao was the only place of all those 
parts accessible to Europeans in Southern 
China, that I had not seen. Not having 
visited the four other ports, of Amoy, Foo- 
chow, Ning-po, and Shang-hai, thrown open 
to British trade, with the admission of 



A VOYAGE TO CUINA. 177 

Consuls at each place, by the treaty of the 
26th August, 1842, I am unable to give any 
description of those places. The Island of 
Amoy, in latitude 24 degrees 27 minutes, is 
situated within a spacious bay, or estuary, 
into which two large rivers fall, and where 
the English once had a factory. 

Foo-chow is the capital of the province of 
Foo-kien, and the emporium of the black tea 
trade. Ning-po, where the English once 
had a factory, is situated on the Ta-hae 
river. Shang-hai is a great emporium of 
trade with the tea provinces on the south, 
and with the province of Shan-tung on the 
north. The climate of Shang-hai and Ning- 
po, the most northerly of these ports, is 
oppressively hot in summer ; but the winters 
are very severe, in proof of which I saw 
two men on board the opium-clipper, " Ar- 
daseer," just arrived from Shang-hai, whose 
feet were frozen off by the cold they expe- 
rienced coming down the coast, whilst it was 
still summer at Canton. 

The captain of an Indiaman offered me a 

I 3 



178 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

" cast" up to Shang-hai on my first arrival in 
China, which I refused, for fear of not being 
back in time to return with the ship to Eng- 
land. As our stay in China was unexpect- 
edly prolonged to six months, instead of two, 
it turned out that I could have easily availed 
myself of his kind oflfer. I did not lose much 
after all, for there appears to be a great 
sameness throughout all China, which I have 
repeatedly heard from those who had visited 
the several northern ports now open to 
Europeans. 

Quoting from Mr. Barrow ; " In the long 
lines of internal navigation^^^ observes that 
gentleman, " between Pekin and Canton^ an 
extent of 1200 miles^ with but one short 
interruption, the traveller will observe every 
variety of surface, but disposed in a very 
remarkable manner in great masses. 

'' For many days, he will see nothing but 
one uniform extended plain, without the 
smallest variety ; again, for as many days, he 
will be hemmed in between precipitous 
mountains of the same naked character, and 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 179 

as unvaried in their appearance as the plains ; 
and lastly, ten or twelve days' sail among 
lakes, swamps and morasses mi} complete the 
catalogue of monotonous uniformity. There 
is a constant succession of large villages, 
towns and cities, with high walls, lofty 
gates, and more lofty pagodas; large navi- 
gable rivers, communicating by artificial 
canals, both crowded with barges for passen- 
gers and barks for burden diflferent from 
everything of the kind in the rest of the 
world." 

Another writer remarks that " the provinces 
of China equal our kingdoms, her towns our 
capitals, her villages most of our cities ; yet 
that all these are pervaded by a sameness 
approaching to monotony ; and that he who 
has seen one town may be said to have seen 
all. They are of a quadrangular form, 
surrounded by high walls, defended and 
ornamented by towers at regular distances. 
The streets usually extend from one extre- 
mity of the town to the other, and at either 
end of each street is a gate that is shut about 



180 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

nine or ten, and ingress or egress put a stop 
to for the night, which is a great check upon 
robbers, whose exploits can extend no 
further than the street they live in. Those 
inhabited by the lower ranks are confused, 
crowded, and dirty ; and, whilst the shops 
are richly embellished, the mansions of the 
great are generally enclosed, and make no 
external display of magnificence." 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 181 



CHAPTER X. 

A Passage to Macao — Praya Grande — ^The Tanka-boat, 
rowed by Females — Population of Macao — Their Houses 
— The Market — Some account of the Town— The Grotto 
of Camoens — Atrocious Murder of the Governor — Chi- 
nese Fort taken by the Portuguese — ^Arms of the Chinese 
Soldier — The Author returns to Whampoa — Harbour of 
Hong Kong— A day at Victoria — Voyage down the 
China Sea — Island of Great Natunas — Crossing the Line 
— Gaspar Island — Coast of Sumatra — Malay-boat — 
Supply of Provisions — The Spanish Dollar — Moose Deer 
and Gennet Cat — The Straits of Sunda — Violent Squall 
— Intricate Navigation — Providential Escape. 

A PASSAGE being offered to me in the 
" Mermaid," to Macao, I availed myself of 
it ; after two days tedious beating down the 
Tigris, against light winds, a fair breeze 
sprang up in sight of Macao, and the 
captain, thinking it too good to lose, stood 
on his course to Bombay, sending me ashore 
in the pilot's boat. We had to go a distance 



182 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

of ten miles against a head-wind and sea, 
which, beating over the boat, made me 
consider myself a victim of the fair wind 
that had caused the ship not to put into 
Macao, being at the time an invalid, and 
not prepared to rough it. 

The approach to Macao is very beautifiil, 
and said very much to resemble Cadiz. 
The landing-plaw on the ** Praya Grande,'^ 
in front of the town, puts me in mind of 
Hastings, or of some clean English watering- 
place. The bay is covered with a small 
boat, called Tanka-boat, rowed by the Tanka 
girls, a distinct race, who live all their lives 
in their little craft, plying for hire, and going 
backwards from the ships to the shore at 
moderate fares. The only addition to the 
usual native costume is a coloured cotton 
handkerchief tied over the head. Some of 
them are not bad-looking, and all are 
extremely civil and contented. When a 
stranger comes down to the beach, a dozen 
applicants for hire start up from the boats, 
and their vociferations of " this boat," " best 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 183 

boat." &c., quite bewilder him, the " embar- 
ras du choix'^ being very well exemplified, 
as the boats and rowers are in every respect 
alike. Fleets of fishing-boats are at anchor, 
and either discharging their loads, or prepar- 
ing to go in search of fresh ones. Amongst 
these are some whose calling is very doubt- 
ful ; if fishing does not answer, they can turn 
their hands to anything, but to the observer^ 
their appearance is harmless and pa3ific.* 

Macao, the most ancient European settle- 
ment in China, is situated on a rocky penin- 
sula, in the island of Hean-shang, a barrier- 
wall and guard-house fixing the limit of the 
Portuguese territory, the greatest length of 
which is three miles, and breadth about one 
mile. 

The first settlers occupied this spot in 

* A week after I left Macao, as the first lieutenant of the 
American brig-of-war, " Dolphin," was returning at night, 
in a Tanka-boat to his ship, he was attacked, when within 
hail of her, by a pirate junk, carrying thirty men. He 
gave the alarm on board the " Dolphin," crying out that 
lie was attacked by pirates ! The brig immediately sent 
an armed boat in pursuit, which captured the junk, but 
most of her crew jumped overboard and were drowned. 



184 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

1557, not by right of conquest, as is some- 
times supposed, but clearly on condition 
that they pay tribute and ground- rent to 
the Emperor. The Chinese population are 
under a mandarin, who levies duties, and 
rules them entirely. The Portuguese go- 
vern themselves. They amount to about 
6,000, the garrison 400, most of both being 
Macao-born Portuguese. The Chinese popu- 
lation is much gresrter, and live in a g^ar^te 
part of the town: the streets are steep, 
crooked, and narrow, tolerably well paved, 
but have a deserted appearance. No car- 
riages or horses can be used, people being 
carried in sedan chairs. Equestrians and 
carriages have a good road from the Pray a 
Grande to the "Barrier-gate," called the 
Parade, which is a very pleasant resort in 
the evening for the elite of the place. 

The houses of the better classes are built 
in the form of a small square, with a yard in 
the middle: a balcony of stone- work runs 
all round, which forms a cool walk for the 
inmates, orange-trees and other fragrant 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 1S5 

plants being planted between the pillars, and 
the whole having an air of comfort and ease 
unknown in Canton or Hong Kong dwellings. 

The Typa is the principal harbour for 
shipping, but vessels also come into the inner 
harbour; those in the outer roadstead are 
much exposed during typhoons. Since the 
colony of Hong Kong has been established, 
the commerce of Macao has fallen almost to 
nothing: the houses formerly occupied by 
wealthy English merchants, can find no 
occupiers, and are to be had for a small ex- 
pense. A few Europeans reside here occa- 
sionally for a change — the scenery, climate, 
and other advantages being much superior 
to any place in China: but the narrow- 
sighted policy of the local government drove 
Englishmen away by their exactions and 
arbitrary measures, which, having led to the 
establishing of Hong Kong, they see, when 
too late, their error, and its ruinous conse- 
quences. 

The Macao market is well supplied with 
fish, game, poultry, meat, vegetables, and 



186 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

fruit at a cheap rate: before things reach 
an English table, mandarin and '' compra- 
dore" exactions have divested them of any 
claim to excessive cheapness, by which 
the natives only benefit. Priests, and Por- 
tuguese ladies, of doubtful beauty and 
complexion, wearing a mantilla over the 
head of coloured chintz, are met with in 
numbers. Stone crosses, convents, monas- 
teries, handsome churches, the governor's 
house on the Praya Grande are the principal 
public buildings. 

The forts are numerous, and crown all 
the heights, mounting many guns. I visited 
the most important, called Fort del Monte, 
on the top of a high hill in the middle of 
the town. Most of the guns bore the date 
of 1622, and appeared more ornamental 
than useful for modem warfare. 

A soldier led me into the quarters of the 
captain of the guard, where the regimental 
band was practising. The captain did 
not speak a word of English, but very 
politely asked me to sit down, and ordered 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 187 

the band to discontinue the Portuguese airs, 
and play " God save the queen ! " which they 
did in very good style. 

I found the view from this fort magnifi- 
cent, and left it impressed with a good idea 
of the courtesy of a Portuguese commander. 
One of the most remarkable things in Macao 
is the Cave, or rather Grotto of Camoens, 
where that celebrated man wrote the greatest 
part of the Lusiade. It is situated in the 
middle of an opulent Portuguese domain, 
taken great care of, and is surmounted with 
a bust of the poet ; the rocks being covered 
with suitable inscriptions and verses to his 
memory. The owner of the grounds allows 
free access to all visitors to the Cave, which 
is by far the most interesting spot in Macao. 

The atrocious murder of Governor Don 
Jose d' Amaral, a most distinguished and 
excellent man, took place a few weeks before 
my arrival there. He was riding out on the 
parade near the barrier wall, attended by his 
aid-de-camp, at his usual hour between five 
and six, when a boy presented some flowers 



188 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

to him on a bamboo. Whilst in the act of 
taking them, eight Chinamen rushed upon 
him with drawn swords, threw him from his 
horse, cut off his head and right hand, 
wounded the aid-de-camp, and disappeared 
immediate!)'' with the head and hand, which 
they carried off in their boat, that had been 
observed lying near the shore. 

Two gentlemen on horseback saw the deed 
done, but, before they could reach the spot, 
everything was quiet, and all they found 
was the bleeding trunk of the unfortunate 
governor. The city was thrown into the 
utmost consternation; large rewards were 
offered for the discovery of the assassins, 
and, it being known that the Chinese govern- 
ment had offered a sum of money some time 
back for his head, on account of some pique 
against him, his rule being more vigorous 
and determined than they had been accus- 
tomed to, there remained little doubt but 
that Seu, the Viceroy of Canton, was at the 
bottom of it. 

The English frigate, "Amazon,'' from Hong 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 189 

Kong, the American corvette, " Plymouth," 
and French corvette,"La Bayonnaise," arrived 
quickly at Macao to protect the place, and 
landed all their crews to parade the streets, 
under arms. The Portuguese garrison, con- 
sidering the mandarins as the promoters of 
the murder of their chief, attacked a Chinese 
fort outside the barrier, carried it by can- 
non, and put all the Chinese soldiers, amount- 
ing to seventy, to the sword. The man- 
darin's head was cut oflF, and paraded through 
the town. 

The Chinese are not a warlike nation, and 
have no chance against European tactics and 
discipline. During our last Chinese war, 
Governor Lin had enlisted about 3,000 men, 
who were being drilled daily near Canton, 
in the military exercises of the bow, the 
spear, and the sword. The latter is of a 
description peculiar to China, being only 
eighteen inches long. Each soldier was 
armed with two of these short and straight 
swords, worn in one scabbard, and carried 
one in each hand, which by being knocked 



190 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

against each other might produce a clangour 
to intimidate the enemy. A short sword 
might be very useful to them if they would 
come to close quarters, but the noise is more 
calculated to frighten sparrows than such 
visitors as they would have to deal with. 

Seu, finding things becoming serious, gave 
out that he had discovered one of the assas- 
sins, and caused him to be executed at Can- 
ton. The head and hand were to be given 
back on a day appointed, but were never 
forthcoming. I saw the body lying in state 
at the Government-house, and a small square 
coffin ready to receive the head and hand of 
the unfortunate Don Jose d' Amaral. 

What makes this tragical event more 
distressing, is that the Governor's time of 
service expired in a few months, when he 
was to return to Europe. He was a man 
of high courage, and extremely popular 
amongst the better classes, but disliked by 
the Chinese, on account of the numerous 
improvements he eficcted in Macao, con- 
trary to their notions and taste. The ruling 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 191 

authorities can do nothing with the small 
force at their disposal, and await the arrival 
of fresh troops from Goa and from Europe, 
to avenge his death.* 

Having, with the kind assistance of Dr. 
Watson, and the splendid climate of Macao, 

recruited my health, I returned to Whampoa 
by the opposition steamer just arrived from 
England, which, as far as speed is concerned, 
has turned out a failure. 

The " Charlotte Jane," after being de- 
tained six months in China, having completed 
her cargo of tea, and received her " grand 
chop," or port-clearance, from the mandarin 
at Canton, dropped down from Whampoa to 
the second bar, and anchored off the Bar 
Pagoda, on the 15th of December, 1849. 
The next day, we beat down through the 
Bocca Tigris, Bogue Forts, and Capsingmoon 
Passage, and cast anchor in the afternoon, 
in the harbour of Hong Kong. 

I landed at Victoria the next morning, 

* I have heard, since my return to England, that the 
head and hand have been given back to the Portuguese 
authorities of Macao. 



1 92 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

and spent the day, which was a very rainy 
one, with Dr. Hunter, who came on board 
with me at dusk, that being the last time I 
intended to set foot upon " Celestial ground." 
Having shipped a fresh crew, which was our 
principal object in touching at Hong Kong, 
we weighed on the 18th, stood out of 
the harbour with a fair wind, and soon lost 
sio:ht of the land. 

For a whole week, nothing occurred to 
break up the monotony of the voyage, as 
we proceeded down the China Sea, until 
Christmas day, which was celebrated as best 
it can be at sea, where such things as prize 
bullocks are not known : sucking-pig, instead 
of beef, was the most striking deviation from 
the usual John Bull fare on that occasion. 
It was of no consequence to me as I was on 
rice diet all the week, and a long time after- 
wards. A waterspout passed half-a-mile 
astern; I did not see it, being unable to go 
on deck. 

The two following days we have the island 
of " Great Natunas " in sight, distant about 
six leagues: the day after, we passed the 



A VOYAGK TO CHINA. 193 

" Gap Rock," " Tumbelan group," St. 
Barbe, and St. Esprit, in sight three leagues 
west. We crossed the line, and entered 
the southern hemisphere : no notice is taken 
of this event, which has occurred so often 
during the voyage, and is only of importance 
to novices at sea. We now come in sight 
of Gaspar Island, and anchor within half-a- 
mile of it, in twelve fathoms. The next 
day we pass through Gaspar Straits (Mac- 
clesfield Channel) ; with high land on both 
sides, thickly- wooded, and the most beautiful 
foliage, extending down to the water's edge. 
The passage through these straits is very 
narrow, in some parts not more than four 
miles. Exchanged colours with the French 
ship, ** Cesar Nicolas," from Whampoa to 

Havre. 

31st December. Making for the Straits 
of ** Sunda," we keep close in to the coast of 
Sumatra. An eight-oared boat was seen 
pulling for the ship, which they could not 
reach until the cross-jack yard was backed 
to give them a chance. They at last suc- 

VOL. n K 



194 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

ceeded in catching a rope thrown over to 
them. A dozen Malays jumped on board, 
each speaking some sort of broken English, 
the object of their visit being to sell stock 
and vegetables, with which their boat was 
filled. We got from them three dozen and 
a half of fowls for three dollars, but could 
not make any other purchase. 

An American ship, the '' St. Jago," from 
China, was getting under weigh some miles 
a-head: saw the "Brothers" eight miles 
off, covered with thick jungle. The wind 
and current are dead against us at the en- 
trance of the Straits. 

1st January. We begin the new year 
with a calm in the Straits of Sunda. A 
number of boats with latteen mat sails, 
full of natives, are continually coming off 
from Anjer Point, Java, and from Hog 
Point, Sumatra, between which two shores 
we are now drifting, at a pace well suited 
to our visitors for transacting business with 
them. These boats belong to Malays, who 
live by boarding every ship coming through 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 195 

the Straits, and are deeply laden with all 
sorts of stock for sea, the produce of the 
islands consisting of fowls, turtle, eggs, 
yams, sweet potatoes, onions, limes, oranges, 
fresh cocoa-nuts, pine apples, mangosteens, 
plantains, melons, pummeloes, or shaddock 
of unusual size and very fine, also the durian, 
for which I should imagine they have few 
customers, except among the Lascar and 
other native crews. Parrots, monkeys, 
moose-deer, mongoose, tortoises, with a 
variety of shells and other curiosities, form 
part of the boat's load. 

These gentry are the " hardest bargains " 
to deal with I ever met, and form a very 
striking contrast with the " facile " Chinamen 
we had been living amongst for six months, 
who will generally take one-third, or half 
less than the price they first ask, and often 
give you a " cumshaw,"* besides. 

Stock varies in price, according to the 
number of boats around you, or the scarcity 



* Present, or some over. 

K 2 



196 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

of ships for a time, causing them to be 
eager to dispose of their boat's load. We 
got fowls, not in very good condition, for a 
dollar a dozen, turtle, half a hundred weight 
each, one dollar : pine apples, half a dollar a 
hundred, or in exchange for empty bottles : 
for these and old clothes and linen, any quan- 
tity of delicious fruit can be obtained, half 
of which spoils at sea before it can be eaten, 
as there must be limits, even to the amateur 
of pines and mangosteens, harmless as they 
are. 

The natives are greedy after the Spanish 
dollar, for which they offer two half-crowns, 
eight-pence more than it is really worth. 
They will not receive the China chop-doUars 
at any price, but will take a jar of China 
preserved ginger, in lieu of a dollar, which 
is what it costs. They are not to be 
done in any way. Each boat has a book, 
in which captains of ships insert their date 
of passing, and report themselves '' all well," 
&c., which is interesting to those who come 
after them. I bought a very pretty " moose- 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 197 

deer,'' about the size of a rabbit, that being 
its full growth, for a dollar, and a black 
striped Java gennet cat, with a perfect fox- 
shaped head, for one shilling. 

These I intended for the Surrey Zoolo- 
gical Gardens, but my good intentions were 
soon defeated, by the first animal jumping 
overboard a few days after, and the second, 
if he outlives the casualities of a four 
months' voyage on shipboard, will be fortu- 
nate indeed.* A tortoise cost sixpence; 
shells, two-and-sixpence a-hundred, or less, 
if small ones ; monkeys, a dollar, but they 
prefer a jar of ginger. Some jet black 
monkeys were bought by the crew, that 
being a favourite animal in the forecastle. 
These men on shore can procure you a live 
tiger for from five to ten dollars, and other 
Javanese animals in proportion. 

We have a dead beat through the Straits 
of Sunda, standing close in shore on the 
Sumatra side, and then tacking across to 

* Now in the Surrey Zoological Gardens. 



198 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 



Pulo Thwart-the-way," an island right in 
mid-channel, having half-a-mile from it, 
Stroom Rocks, only a few feet above 
water, and very much like a long boat 
bottom upwards, ships being able to pass 
between them and the island. 

Each coast has some very elevated peaks 
amongst the mountainous ridges, forming 
these extreme points of Java and Sumatra. 
Almost every part is covered with the thick- 
est jungle, of a dark green aspect at a 
distance, but, on approaching nearer, one 
can distinguish a great variety of different 
trees, of the most beautifully varied and 
luxuriant foliage, stretching right down into 
the water, from which some appear to take 
root. 

The low parts of the coast are lined with 
tall palm-trees, extending in a line as far as 
the eye can reach. Anjer Town, Java, is a 
favourite anchorage in the S. VV. monsoon, 
but a lee-shore in the N. E. one, ships then 
keeping, as we did, the Sumatra coast on 
board. Crokatoa Island, Pulo Bessy, and 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 199 

others are in sight. SquaUs and calms 
succeed each other, which require constant 
shortening and making sail: during the 
night, without any warning, the ship was 
struck by a sudden most violent squall, 
which in a moment carried the jib, flying- 
jib, and fore top-gallant-sail, clean out 
of the bolt-ropes, leaving scarcely a vestige 
of canvass behind : it was soon over, as is 
usual hereabouts, and new sails were quickly 
bent. 

The morning brought much rain and a 
succession of puffs and light winds as the 
day before. We attempted to beat through 
Prince's Strait, a narrow passage, but, with 
a slant of wind, a safe one, between Prince's 
Island and Java Head. This, from a com- 
bination of circumstances, turned out a most 
difficult, and afterwards a most dangerous 
manoeuvre. The wind, which just before 
dark was free enough to enable us, if it stood, 
to clear the passage in half an hour without 
making another tack, suddenly became short, 
the ship's head breaking off four points, 



200 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

which, with the strong current against ns, 
took away all chance of our getting through, 
and night overtook us in the narrowest and 
most intricate part of Prince's Strait. 

The frequent sudden " sumatras" pre- 
vented the ship half the time carrying any 
canvass to work through with, and there 
was no anchorage near, added to which it 
rained in torrents ; brilliant flashes of light- 
ning interrupted the darkness of night, as if 
to point out the rocks and impending dan- 
gers. We were short-handed from a heavy 
sick list amongst the crew ; the rest, during 
the emergency, did not " work with a will," 
grumbling at the fatigue, and their small 
number, which was quite accidental. Once 
in " going about," within two cable's length 
of the Carpenter's Rocks, we very nearly 
missed stays, the wind failing suddenly, the 
current setting us straight on to them, and 
a few minutes would have decided our fate, 
had she not filled in time and stood off on 
the other tack. 

Finding all this not very agreeable or 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 201 

interesting, particularly to an invalid, I 
" turned in" early, trusting to Providence, 
a fine vessel, and skilful captain, to get us 
out of the dilemma, which fortunate result 
had taken place by next morning, when, on 
awaking, I found we had left far behind this 
" Scylla and Charybdis," and were safely 
careering along in the Indian ocean, destined 
to be for the next six weeks the field of our 
more placid exertions, and soon made us 
forget the imminent dangers of that night 
in Prince's Strait, which the captain assured 
us were far greater than he had ever been 
placed in at sea during his whole life. 
Altogether, the " Charlotte Jane" and her 
inmates stood then a very fair chance of 
terminating their voyage and earthly career 
in the vicinity of Java Head. 



k3 



202 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Christinas Island— Sperm Whales — Profusion of Turtle- 
Passage through the Indian Ocean — Race with an American 
Ship — Press of Canvass — Premonitory Warning — The Eng- 
lish Ship beats her competitor — Difficulty of approaching 
the Cape from the Eastward — Progress along the African 
Coast — A mutineer on board — His punishment — New Light 
house — View of Table Mountain — Adverse winds — Arrival 
in Table Bay — The Author's second Visit to the Cape — 
Good accommodation at Parke's Hotel — Invitation to the 
Vineyard — Variety of Fruits — South-Easters — The Botani- 
cal Gardens — New Jetty — Visit to Somerset Hospital- 
Curiosity -Hunting — Inland Lake — Wreck of the Childe 
Harold, and the Nepaul — Steam -tugs — Establishment for 
Lepers on Robben Island —Anecdote of a Traveller. 

A FEW days after leaving the Straits of 
Suiida, we came in sight of Christmas Island, 
oiF which we were becalmed for three days. 
It is about six leagues in extent each way, 
and rather hilly ; presenting to the eye one 
mass of dark green trees, even thicker than 
those of the other islands we had passed. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 203 

It is uninhabited, but is said to contain 
plenty of deer and wild hog. There is no 
anchorage, the lead giving eighty fathoms 
close in shore ; but parties have occasionally 
landed there on a shooting excursion, whilst 
becalmed near its shores. A light wind, at 
last, enabled us to lose sight of Christmas 
Island, of which we were getting heartily 
tired. 

Two large sperm whales, about sixty feet 
long, amused us by spouting and gambolling 
close astern for about an hour. One made 
a complete somerset in the water, his large 
forked tail, being, for a moment, erect in the 
air; several others were seen at the same 
time in the distance. We killed our first 
turtle, and had turtle in all its forms 
enough to satiate or even to nauseate an alder- 
man. Every day turtle-soup, cotelettes de 
turtle, turtle roti, turtle stewed, for dinner; 
at breakfast and supper, turtle again. It 
was very delicious, but probably would have 
been more valued by us, had it cost more 
dollars, and come in less profusion. 



204 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

Having caught the South-East trade, we 
traversed nearly two-thirds of the Indian 
Ocean, a distance of several thousand miles, 
without falling in with a vessel holding the 
same course to try rate of sailing with. A 
brig would not do. This would be consi- 
dered " infra dig /' and several ships seen 
were outward bound ; others, on the same 
tack as our own, were so inferior that we 
passed them in a few hours without any effort. 

Having been so long out, we began to 
despair of meeting at all a sail of an equal 
match, when one morning, soon after break- 
fast, the officer of the watch came down from 
on deck and announced, " a large ship to 
windward." She bore down, as if intending 
to '* speak usy^^ but, at about a mile distant, 
resumed her former course, and, hoisting 
at the mizen-peak the well-known banner 
of the stars and stripes, confirmed our 
opinion as to the nation to which she 
belonged. To this, we answered by running 
up the ensign, and our number. 

The captain came on the poop, examined 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 205 

her with the glass, took her bearings, and 
his keen, experienced eye soon found that at 
last we had fallen in with the right sort. 
" She will do," said he to the chief officer, 
rubbing his hands: "she appears a smart 
craft, and I have observed for the last hour 
we have not gained one inch upon her." 
At that time, the wind was two points abaft 
the beam, a steady top- gallant breeze. We 
were going with the lower studding-sails 
at nine knots through the water. " Now,'' 
said the captain, "we will show Master 
Jonathan what we can doi Send a hand 
aloft to loose the fore and main royal. Kig 
out the starboard topmast studding-sail boom. 
Set the main trysail." These orders fol- 
lowed in quick succession, and were as 
quickly executed. The ship felt the pres- 
sure of so much additional canvass, and soon 
increased her speed. She dashed the spray 
over her graceful figure-head, and tore 
through the billows with great rapidity. In 
the words of Byron, — 

*'She walked the waters like a thing of life."* 



206 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

The American, finding that we were draw- 
ing a-head of him, was not idle; sail after 
sail he bent, and seemed for a moment to be 
gaining a slight advantage. The skipper 
saw it, and was put upon his mettle. He 
paced the deck with a quicker step, and mut- 
tering to himself, we nmst not be beaten, gave 
a look round, and then exclaimed, " Send 
hands aloft, and rig out the top-gallant and 
royal studding-sail booms." 

This step, considering that the ship had 
as much as she could stagger under, rather 
took the men by surprise. The royal and 
top-gallant studding-sails being quickly set, 
the men were piped to grog, and began 
" to work with a will ; " for at sea no 
extra work is done well without extra 
grog. 

The American appeared to have lost a 
little ground since the " Frigate," as we were 
called in China, had '' spread her wings" in 
such gallant style. She was evidently carry- 
ing a press of canvass that under no ordinary 
circumstances could be witnessed, and great 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 207 

excitement prevailed throughout the ship's 
company — all being alike eager for success. 
The chief officer, an old opium-clipper man, 
accustomed to " carrying on^^ was pacing the 
quarter-deck in ecstacy, and ever and anon 
bursting out to himself in such exclama- 
tions as " Hurrah ! old girl ; drive on you 
hound; youVe got the scent! Clap the 
muslin on her ! What she can't carry, she 
must drag.'' 

As the wind freshened, the sight increased 
in magnificence. The ship rushed through 
the waters like a wild steed, and sent the 
foam over her bows as far as the main hatch. 
The log was hove, and eleven knots were 
found to be her speed ; she had never before 
been known to exceed ten and a half. She 
left behind in her wake a furrowed track of 
snowy whiteness that was lost in the im- 
mensity of the ocean. 

The breeze becoming stronger, the Ame- 
rican, who was to windward, caught it first, 
and was busy taking in his " flying kites." 
It soon reached us, and some of our stud- 



208 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

ding-sail booms began to bend like bows. 
It was clear they could not stand long ; they 
must be taken in, or they would take them- 
selves in. We were reluctant to give up 
our advantage, and, whilst the matter was 
being considered, a loud noise was heard up 
aloft — the main royal and top-gallant stud- 
ding-sail booms were carried away. They 
came down alongside with a tremendous 
crash, dragging with them in their fall the 
sails^ blocks, and tackle. 

This premonitory warning was quite 
enough : the strong wind had now increased 
to a squall, and ^^ all hands shorten saiV^ was 
the order ; it was nothing but " haul down and 
clew up ;" everything appeared in confusion, 
and, in a few minutes, the decks were covered 
with ropes and sails. There was no time 
for delay ; the captain cheered the men on. 
" Spring aloft my tars, rig in the booms fore 
and aft; brace up the main trysail ; hands 
stand by the top-gallant haulyards I " 

The wind having drawn more forward, 
being now rather before the beam, the yards 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 209 

of both vessels were braced up sharp, and 
then came the chance for the ^' regular clip- 
per'^ to show her superiority. This we 
knew was in our favour, our best point of 
sailing being on a wind. As all now de- 
pended on the manner of steering, old Tom, 
the crack helmsman, was sent to the wheel. 
" Clean full and &y " was the order given ; 
and we had the satisfaction of seeing our 
vessel gradually '^ forging a-head'^ of her 
opponent, who, it soon became evident, had 
not much chaiice left of again coming up 
with us. The distance between the two 
ships continued to increase. At eight bells, 
the American had dropped several miles 
astern, and before dark was nearly '^hull 
downJ^ The crew were served again with 
extra grog, and in the cabin the champagne 
flew merrily round to celebrate the event. 
It coming on to blow, after supper the order 
of '^ All hands reef topsails ^^ was given; the 
sailors manned the yards with unusual 
alacrity, and, proud of the gallant perform- 
ance of their ship, gave from aloft three 
hearty cheers for the " Charlotte Jane." 



210 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

The appearance of our old friends, the 
albatrosses, reminded us every day that we 
were gradually approaching the land of 
Southern Africa, and we were not surprised 
at losing the trade wind which had enabled 
us to reach within ten degrees of it before 
we experienced the unwelcome change of 
calms and variables. 

The Cape is the boundary of very unsettled 
weather, is a saying common amongst navi- 
gators ; and the difficulties of approaching 
it from the eastward are much greater than 
from the Atlantic. Ships from India gene- 
rally reckon on a week from the time of first 
sighting the high land of Southern Africa 
to anchoring in Table Bay. The distance 
is nothing, and could be done in half that 
time, which often happens; but a fair wind, 
quickly followed by a gale right in your 
teeth, then calms, variables, strong currents, 
and dense fogs, must not surprise you if 
they all happen, and prolong your passage 
round this difficult promontory, the favour- 
ite region of the whale, the albatross, and 
perpetual gales. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 211 

On my voyage home from China, I had 
the good fortune to revisit this most inter- 
esting and most important of all our Colonies, 
where I had before spent a few days so 
agreeably, that I left it with regret, and had 
always retained the most pleasing impres- 
sions of my short stay in Southern Africa. 
China ships are averse to touching there, 
homeward bound, on account of the delay, 
the Canton merchants looking a great deal 
to quick passages, to get their teas early into 
the market, and a favourite ship in Canton 
has great advantages over others. However, 
in China, we had engaged to touch at the 
Cape, with which 1 was not a little pleased, 
as it breaks up the tedious monotony of a 
four months' voyage, and sends one through 
the uninteresting two months' passage across 
the South and North Atlantic with fresh 
spirits and a host of vivid and agreeable 
recollections. 

Having passed to the southward of Ma- 
dagascar, we soon lost the south-east trade, 
and, after a week of light variable winds 



212 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

descried, on the 7th of February, distant 
eight leagues, the high mountains bor- 
dering along the coast of Africa, between the 
Buffalo and Great Fish Rivers. The sound- 
ings, and change of colour in the water, 
showed, some time before, that we were on 
the tail of the great Agulhas bank, which 
indications the early navigators had alone 
to guide them. 

Our course is now along the coast, in 
sight of land, due west. We pass Algoa 
Bay, with its remarkable headland. Cape 
Recife, then Plettemberg's Bay, with a fine 
breeze, when, approaching Mossel Bay, now 
called " AUiwal," in honour of the present 
governor. Sir Harry Smith, a gale of wind 
sprang up from the south-west, against 
which we could show nothing but double- 
reefed topsails, and sometimes less still, for 
four days and nights, which, with a contrary 
current, kept us the whole time in sight of 
Mossel Bay, occasionally drifting to leeward, 
and all the time with difficulty " holding 
our own.'' Frequently, we were within 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 213 

three or four miles of the land, and could 
easily distinguish the houses, fires, and trees. 

At noon, as the ship was standing in at 
the distance of about four miles from the 
shore, the order of "Ready about," was 
given, when a sailor, who in the morning 
had held very insolent language, came aft 
on the poop and addressed the captain in 
such abusive terms, that, with the assistance 
of the mate, he collared him immediately. 
Upon this, another sailor took the man's 
part, and a violent scuffle ensued, the cap- 
tain receiving several blows. The rest of 
the crew soon came up, and some bad cha- 
racters amongst them seemed disposed to 
side with the two mutineers, until the cap- 
tain, taken unawares, asked them all whe- 
ther it was a mutiny or not, since it had 
very much the appearance of one. 

Nobody else having offered any violence, 
the ruffian was ordered to be put in double 
irons, which, after much resistance, was 
effected, he at the same time threatening to 



214 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

take the captain's life when he could get a 
chance. A sort of court-martial was then 
held, at which I advised " three dozen," a 
trifling punishment for so outrageous an 
offence. He was confined a close prisoner aft, 
with a guard over him, until he could be deli* 
vered up to the proper tribunal at the Cape,* 
together with the fellow who assisted him, 
and endeavoured to excite a mutiny in such 
a critical moment as that when a ship was 
tacking off a lee shore. These men in the 
morning began their insolent conduct by re- 
fusing to mend the mainsail because it was 
Sunday, a duty, a light one at any time, and 
then absolutely necessary, otherwise they 
would not have been set about it on that 
day, great attention being paid in the ship 
to the religious observance of the Sabbath. 
At length the wind fell light, and, shift- 

• At Cape Town, owing to the blundering ignorance of 
the Baron, as the chief Police Magistrate there is called, 
these men escaped without even a reprimand, and it was 
not prudent to bring the case into a higher court, where 
their offence would have met with a just punishment, for 
fear of the proceedings detaining the ship. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 215 

ing round to a fine South -Easterly breeze, 
Mossel Bay is soon left behind, Port Beaufort 
also, and, before dark, we are up with Cape 
Agulhas, which, once passed, the principal 
difficulty is over. A few months since, a 
lighthouse was erected on this dangerous 
headland, which we found in the evening 
gave a very brilliant light ten miles off ; a 
signal -staff is also erected there, to signalize 
ships passing near enough, and report them 
by the mail overland at Cape Town, which 
must be of great service to the mercantile 
community. 

All along this coast high mountains are 
in sight, at a greater or lesser distance from 
the shore, that give it from the sea a bleak 
and barren appearance. The breeze carried 
us the next morning close up to the real 
" Cape of Goed Hope," a small headland, 
projecting into the sea, which I have before 
alluded to. 

Table Mountain was in sight, distant 
twenty miles, when it came on to blow a 
violent '* south-easter," which forced us to 



216 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

lie-to all day, with great fear of drifting to 
leeward of our port. It blew with less fury 
towards evening, and the captain had some 
idea of beating into the bay ; but, as it gene- 
rally blows stronger there than outside, and 
as, on his last voyage under exactly similar 
circumstances, in attempting to do so, he 
lost all his sails out of the bolt-ropes, and 
was driven out to sea, he very wisely de- 
cided on waiting until the gale abated. 

We learned on our arrival that it was not 
as he anticipated, it having been quite mo- 
derate in the bay, and boats were able to 
land cargo from the ships. The next day, 
the scene changed entirely. We found our- 
selves close to the shore, in a dead calm, 
surrounded on all sides by a dense fog, hav- 
ing the appearance of high land, and render- 
ing it impossible to see fifty yards off. This 
position, so near the land we could not per- 
ceive, with currents and not a breath of 
wind, was one of more danger than the gales 
from which we had escaped, during which 
two large ships were wrecked in Algoa and 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 217 

Plettemberg's Bays, near which latter place 
we must have been at the very time the 
"Nepaul," a homeward -bound Indiaman, 
was going to pieces on the rocks, her crew 
and passengers saving themselves on a raft. 

In the afternoon, the fog gradually dimin- 
ished, and Table Mountain again showed its 
head above the clouds, but we did not move. 
During the night, a slight change took place, 
and the next morning a gentle breeze before 
the beam, which soon drew nearly aft, 
brought us rapidly in sight of Green Point. 

Having answered the signals from the 
flagstaff on the Lion's Kump, we were 
shortly after boarded by the port-captain; 
and, as the clock struck twelve, let go at last 
our anchor in Table Bay, which at one time 
we almost despaired of reaching. 

A large sailing-boat immediately con- 
veyed our party to the shore ; and for the 
second time I trod with a joyful step on 
" Afric's burning sand." 

We proceeded towards Parke's Hotel, 
which was soon afterwards filled by a great 

VOL. II. L 



218 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

number of passengers just arrived in the 
"Barham," from Calcutta. This constant suc- 
cession of fresh inmates, nearly all landing 
from the different Indiamen, outward or 
homeward-bound, gives to this hotel an 
animated appearance, and renders the stay 
there very agreeable, all taking meals at the 
same table, the ladies generally forming an 
overwhelming majority. After dinner, in 
the drawing-room, a little music and singing 
sometimes take place. The cuisine is first- 
rate, and the table covered in profusion with 
all the delicacies of the season. The charge 
of ten shillings and sixpence a day includes 
everything, except wines and spirits. But 
you are not charged, as at Singapore, for 
the meals at which you are not present — 
that is rather " too bad." 

Having tiffined, we soon obtained a car- 
riage and pair of excellent horses, in very 
good style, with a Malay coachman, and 
drove out to the seat of Mr. Billingsley, at 
Claremont, called the " Vineyard," six miles 
from town, where we were invited to spend 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 2 19 

the two next days, and received the kindest 
hospitality. 

The "Vineyard" is one of the finest estates 
in the Colony, and has been improved at a 
great expense by its liberal owner. The 
garden around the house is filled with beau- 
tiful flowers, both exotic and indigenous, 
laid out with much taste ; but the greatest 
sight is the avenue of grapes, over an ele- 
gant iron frame-work, supported by light 
pillars, 1000 feet in length, and about twelve 
in breadth, arched over, and completely 
covered from the top down to the ground, a 
height of fifteen feet, with the most beauti- 
ful black and white grapes, such as in 
England could only be produced in a hot- 
house. 

I have never seen anything approaching to 
it on the continent, and believe, as a vine- 
yard of choice grapes, nothing equal to it 
exists anywhere. Other fruits, as peaches, 
figs, pears, melons, &c., were growing in the 
same abundance : one pumpkin was pointed 
out to me, as big as a barrel of beef, and 

L 2 



220 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

appeared quite a curiosity. All European 
vegetables were in great perfection; the 
dessert was composed of such a variety and 
profusion of choice fruit, all out of the 
garden, that it surpassed any thing one can 
imagine at home, and made me long to 
dwell in this delightful climate, which pos- 
sesses equally every other advantage. 

Opposition omnibuses to Wynberg, pass 
by the '* Vineyard " every hour, and I re- 
turned to Cape Town in the morning. 
They fill well, the merchants coming to 
town by them, and returning to their seats 
in the afternoon, at the moderate fare of one 
shilling. 

I9th February, 1850.— It blew all day a 
strong " black south-easter,'* preventing 
any communication with the shipping. 
The boats are able to go off well enough, but 
cannot get back again, so that the mail 
from England by the " Persia," could not 
be landed before the next day: it might 
have been many days, these south-easters 
being very uncertain in their duration. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 221 

The top of Table Mountain was covered 
with the " table-cloth," well spread, and 
looking very dirty : the clouds of sand and 
fine gravel stirred up in all the streets on such 
occasions render walking in some directions 
quite impossible; the town is deserted, 
and strangers may be seen twirled about, 
and driven out of their course, by the sudden 
gusts coming down from the mountain. 
The fine gravel pelting against one's face is 
so painful, that I found walking sideways, 
or backwards, the only possible way of facing 
it. 

Resident gentlemen wear a blue veil 
round their hats, which they find during 
south-easters a very useful protection against 
the dust. To a new comer, it has a rather 
singular appearance, but that day's experi- 
ence convinced me of the utility of adopting 
this article of female apparel. Railroad 
fine wire spectacles would be more conve- 
nient, and answer the purpose well. 

20th February.— This was a beautiful 
day, and a gentle breeze rendered walking 



222 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

out in the heat of the sun very pleasant, 
although the thermometer stood 80 in the 
shade. 

I visited the Botanical Gardens, very 
prettily laid out, containing choice specimens 
of plants and trees. They are open every 
day to strangers and subscribers only : to 
the public, twice a week, when the band 
plays. The Public Library and splendid 
Exchange Kooms are also freely open to 
visitors in the most liberal manner: they 
contain, besides a valuable and extensive 
collection of books, every English periodical, 
the latest newspapers, and all the local and 
Indian papers. They are closed at six, at 
which early hour all the shops are shut in 
Cape Town ; this being the general custom, 
gives to the tradespeople plenty of leisure- 
time, without detriment to business. Our 
London shopmen, slaving till midnight, as 
they often do, might well envy this " early 
closing.'* 

A new jetty has just been finished at the 
bottom of the Heerengracht, in the most 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 223 

central part of the town, aad is a great 
improvement upon the old one, some distance 
off. 

Visited Somerset Hospital. It is well 
situated on a rising ground in front of the 
sea, can contain one hundred and fiftj'^ pa- 
tients, but had not more than a score, and 
those with diseases of a mild nature. It 
speaks volumes for the salubrity of the 
climate, as all civilians, seamen, natives, and 
paupers, are sent to this hospital. The 
surgeon told me that it was an unusually 
healthy time, and that, during epidemics, 
and in some seasons, the beds were all filled. 
The charges are one shilling and threepence 
per day, for all classes — three shillings for 
masters and chief officers of ships : paupers 
are admitted without charge, in pauper 
wards: in some cases, reductions can be 
made on these charges. 

There is also a military hospital for the 
garrison, which I had no time to visit. I 
next went out curiosity-hunting, but found 
Kaffir weapons, &c., scarce. I picked up, 



224 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

however, some assegais, all made of wood, 
by the Zoolah Kaffirs, near Port Natal, and 
other articles carved in hard wood and in 
use amongst them: also walking-sticks, 
made of the rhinoceros' horn and skin : this 
last called " shambock "* by the Dutch, 
when polished, is semi-transparent, not 
unlike amber, and inflicts so severe a blow, 
that in former times, when slavery existed 
in the Colony, by the Dutch law, a master 
was fined fifty dollars for striking any of 
his slaves with the shambock. That law is 
now obsolete, slavery having been abolished 
in 1834. 

I heard to day, for the first time, that a 
great inland lake had been discovered north 
of Lattakoo, some hundred miles beyond the 
Cape frontier, and that two travellers, who had 
been there, were now on the point of starting 
from Cape Town to explore it again. Such 
a discovery may prove of importance to- 
wards the civilization of the interior of 

* Pronounced " Shamberg." 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 525 

Africa, a country into which it has hitherto 
been so difficult to penetrate. 

Passengers from the " Childe Harold/' 
wrecked on Dassen's Island, the day she 
sailed, were brought back by the steamer : 
news arrived also, that the passengers and 
most of the crew of the " Nepaul," lost in 
Flettemberg's Bay^ had reached the shore ' 
on a rafb, and I learned, by chance, that the 
passengers were Mr. and Mrs. Drago, my 
old acquaintances of Poona, who, I knew, 
intended returning to England, when I last 
saw them, by the overland route. It would 
have been fortunate, had they done so, 
having had a most narrow escape of their 
lives, and probably the loss of all their 
effects, the vessel being a total wreck. 

It appears that the Phoenix steamer was 
in Mossel Bay at the time, and passed 
not far from the " Nepaul," on the same 
day that all her people were standing on the 
poop, every minute expecting a watery 
grave, their boats being all stove, and none 
being able to reach them from the shore. 

L 3 



226 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

As they would not arrive at Cape Town 
before my departure, I left a card with a 
friend to be given to them, which would 
surprise them a little, npt knowing that I 
had gone on from India to China, instead of 
home. 

I should think that a steam-tug would 
answer well at the Cape. A few days before 
my arrival, the " Phoenix " had towed round 
Green Point, where she was becalmed, and 
in danger of drifting on the rocks, the 
Dutch corvette, " Sambre," and the English 
barque, " Queen," for which she got £300 
and £225. A tug suited for these seas, 
cruising off Cape Agulhas in calms and 
contrary winds, or outside of Table Bay, 
might often be of service to the numerous 
homeward-bound East Indiamen, detained 
near these parts : communication with the 
shipping during strong south-easters, would 
then be always practicable. On mention- 
ing the subject to a merchant, he told me 
that the high price of fuel, was the principal 
obstacle to so useful an enterprise. 



i 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 227 

I regretted much not being able to 
visit the government estabUshment for 
lepers, on Robben's Island, containing more 
than one hundred cases, and in a medical 
point of view, a most interesting sight. 
The people have an aversion to seeing lepers 
about the streets, under a vulgar impression 
of the malady being contagious, and they 
would be likely to iU-treat any leper found 
at large. On this account, they are all 
removed to Robben Island, and are carefully 
attended to. 

Robben Island is only a few miles from 
the mainland, but the uncertainty of getting 
back, from contrary winds springing up, 
and the certainty^ in such a case, of being 
left behind at the Cape by the ship's sailing, 
were sufficient reasons to deter me from 
attempting to proceed thither. I did not, 
on the same account, like to venture so far 
as to visit my friends at Simon's Town. The 
Admiral had been recalled, with the flag- 
ship, " Southampton," and replaced by a 
Commodore, which must detract from the 



228 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

naval importance of the place, and be a loss 
to the inhabitants. The most interesting 
object there to me, would have been the 
notorious " Neptune" convict-ship, which 
was only waiting for a fair wind to depart. 

A gentleman who was advising me to 
ascend Table Mountain, not knowing that I 
had recently done so, told me a very good 
anecdote of a traveller, not many years ago, 
who was anxious to see the top, and was 
told by some friends that the fluke of an 
anchor was the most curious thing to notice 
on the summit, where they took care to have 
one conveyed, and partly buried in the soil. 

A day was fixed for the ascent, and the 
anchor was the first thing looked for by our 
credulous friend, who, not suspecting the 
trick, in publishing his travels actually 
described the anchor as the most remarkable 
and unaccountable thing he had met with, 
I give this merely as 1 had it related to me. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 229 



CHAPTER XIL 

Glorions Daj in the annals of the Cape of Good Hope — 
Departure of the "Neptune," Convict-ship, for Van 
Dieman's Land —Rejoicings and Illuminations in Cape 
Town — High position of the Colony — Union amongst 
the Colonists — ^Tyranny of Earl Grey — Degraded state 
of Van Dieman*s Land — Evils of a Penal Settlement — 
Happy State of Security in the Cape Colony — Evils of 
introducing Convicts into it — ^Popularity of Sir Harry 
Smith — His admirable line of Conduct — ^Resolutions 
of the Anti-Convict Association — Sentiments of the In- 
habitants — ^Abuse of Power — Pledge taken by the 
Colonists — ^Insubordination among the Convicts on their 
Voyage to Van Dieman^s Land — The Author returns to 
Engluid. 

2 1st February. — The twenty-first of 
February, 1850, is a glorious day in the 
annals of the Cape of Good Hijpe. This 
morning departed from its shores the " Nep- 
tune," convict -ship, for Van Dieman's 
Land, after a stay of five months, pending 



230 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

the decision of the Home Government. 
The joyful event was received at Cape Town 
by the ringing of all the church-bells ; flags 
were displayed from every house and pubUc 
building. The shopkeepers all took down, 
for the first time, their shutters, which for 
five months had been allowed to remain up, 
in sign of mourning, by universal consent, 
and a general illumination was ordered, 
to take place at night, with immense bon- 
fires on the Lion's Rump, and other elevated 
points. 

A grand dinner for the members of the 
Anti' Convict Association, was also to take 
place, which, with addresses of congratula- 
tion to the governor from aU parts of the 
Colony, most happily closed this source of 
continued excitement and interruption to 
business, which might have ended in a 
serious drama to the inhabitants. 

The subject is probably familiar to most 
people at home, but to me, who had just 
arrived from China, it was quite new, as the 
news had not yet reached when I left. I 



A VOYAGE CO CHINA. 231 

took therefore great interest in it, and wa» 
glad to be upon the spot at its fortunate 
termination. I say "fortunate," for I have 
not the slightest doubt that, had it been 
otherwise, and the convicts landed and 
dispersed throughout the Colony, from that 
day the ruin of the Cape would have dated. 

From the high position it now occupies as 
a free, independent, wealthy, and rapidly 
improving province, more suited than all 
others to new settlers of means and respect- 
ability from Great Britain, it would have 
fallen at once into the degraded position of 
a penal settlement, soon to be followed by 
the depreciation of property, and a certain 
stop to free emigration. The finger of scorn 
would have been pointed at that once happy 
land ; all those amongst the better classes 
who could afford to leave would have been 
likely to return home, so great is the aver- 
sion of most people, and justly so, to a resi- 
dence in a convict settlement. 

The Dutch and English, who appear to 
be on very good terms, " fraternized" well 



232 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

on this trying occasion. The former are by 
far the more numerous, and opposed it to a 
man. They felt it was a measure that was 
to " make, or mar" them. They had " set 
their lives upon a cast, and stood the hazard 
of the die." Perhaps there never was an 
instance of such perfect union amongst a 
whole people. 

Some of their resolutions have been called 
too violent, and going too far; but "a 
strong disease requires a strong remedy.'* 
Half measures would not have succeeded 
with the Home Government, and the victory 
would have been lost. Their long struggle, 
crowned with ultimate success, is the best 
answer to any objections of that kind. The 
folly, the injustice and the tyranny of Earl 
Grey in attempting to convert the most use- 
ful and finest of all our colonies into a re- 
ceptacle for felons, are quite inexplicable. If 
the blunder arose from ignorance, it was 
unpardonable ; if from design, worse still. 

Everybody who has any knowledge at all 
of our colonies knows that Australia will not 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 233 

receive convicts at any price, and Van Die- 
man's Land, the only place to which they 
are now sent, is loud in its outcry against 
the system which has selected it for the un- 
enviable privilege of receiving monthly im- 
portations of the outcasts of society. This, 
as shown by statistics, if continued, will 
prove the ruin of that fine island. 

Some years ago I visited Tasmania, as it 
is now called, and for several reasons should 
have been induced to settb there, having 
received an appointment under Sir John 
Franklin's government. But, during a few 
months' stay, I saw sufficient of the convict- 
system, and its influence on the Colony, to 
disgust me with the place, and I found I did 
not stand alone in that opinion. I therefore 
left it, but have ever since taken a lively in- 
terest in the question. Now Tasmania has 
always from its first occupation been a penal 
settlement, and no hardship was inflicted on 
the new settlers who came there knowing the 
fact, and at that time profiting by it, as con- 



234 A V03fAGE TO CHINA. 

vict servants were assigned to them at a 
trifling expense. 

The moral stain, diffusing itself like a 
slow poison through the veins, having now 
infected every corner of the beautiful island 
of Tasmania, the free population of the pre- 
sent day, a better educated and superior 
class of people to the earlier colonists, find 
out the endless disadvantages arising from 
it, and would willingly cast off the yoke of 
pollution. 

To attempt to thrust such evils upon 
any well- established country, and above all 
others upon the Cape, which for upwards of 
two centuries has been a free Colony, under 
both Dutch and English rule, is monstrous 
and abominable.* 

The great majority of the population in 
the towns and rural districts in the Cape 
Colony are of a highly moral and religious 
disposition; crimes amongst the labouring 
classes are of rare occurrence, and women 
can travel from one end of the Colony to the 

* See Appendix. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 235 

other unmolested, police being unknown. 
The farmer in the interior is away from his 
home six months out of the year, for the 
purpose of selling his produce, or of super- 
intending the rearing of it. All this time 
he leaves unprotected, in perfect confidence, 
his wife and daughters, who feel as secure 
without as with him. But there can be no 
doubt, that soon after the landing of a few 
batches of Lord Grey's " pets," as brought 
by the " Neptune," this primitive and happy 
state of security would soon be broken up. 
Many of the convicts, too idle to work, 
would take to bush-ranging, for which the 
interior, with its widely-scattered farms, 
offers great facilities. 

The native population would soon acquire 
the vices of the new comers, and criminals 
might escape into the interior, beyond the 
boundary, and evade the arm of justice. 
An expensive rural police would be required, 
and, in such a country, could be of very 
little service. To men of their description 
the cheapness of intoxicating liquors would 



236 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

also prove ap evil. Altogether, there seems 
to be only one view to the question, and that 
one, every man in his senses at the Cape 
has adopted. It was a splendid instance of 
resistance by the most purely constitutional 
measures, to an act of the Minister, arbi- 
trary, impolitic, and illegal. 

The triumph acquired by such means, by 
a handful of men, proves them worthy of 
the race from which they sprang, and is a 
fine lesson for powerful states and empires 
to profit by. Well may the Cape Colonists 
exclaim : — 

" Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just ! " 

The governor. Sir Harry Smith, who is 
exceedingly popular, and has the welfare of 
the Colony at heart, was placed in a very 
difficult position —that of having to please 
two masters, the Home Government, and 
the " Vox populV^ around him. 

When the supplies were stopped from all 
people having any connection with the 
Crown, he was obliged to send to Madagas- 
car and the Mauritius for beef, flour, and 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 237 

other necessaries, for the troops and the 
fleet. He might have proclaimed martial- 
law, and helped himself, but he did not do 
so. At the same time, he refused to send 
the " Neptune" away. On his own respon- 
sibility, he promised not to land the convicts, 
but to wait for further orders in answer to 
the dispatches he had sent to Lord Grey. 
His conduct throughout was fair, prudent, 
and considerate : few would have been found 
to act with more conciliation in such an 
emergency. 

As some of the resolutions passed by the 
members of the Anti-Convict Association 
may not be uninteresting, I give an extract 
from the South African Commercial Adver- 
tiser of the 22nd of September, 1849 : — 

" The arrival of the " Neptune," with 282 
convicts on board, whose ^ destination^^ ac- 
cording to the Secretary of State, is — ' the 
Cape of Good Hope^ there to he dispersed 
among the inhabitants of the districts^^ has 
called into action the system of self-protec- 
tion, with which every inhabitant is now 



238 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

thoroughly acquainted, and according to 
which every individual knows what duty he 
has to perform. It is simply this :— 

" That vntil a satisfactory assurance shall he 
given hy his Excellency the Governor^ that the 
' Neptune/ with her prisoners^ will leave these 
shoreSy no supplies of any description will be 
furnished to that ship, or for her use^ or to 
any public department in whose charge she 
may be placed; or to any public depprtment in 
the remotest degree implicated in her detention ; 
and all connection with any person who may 
assist in landing^ supporting^ or employing 
these convicts will be dropped.^' 

The proceedings of the colonists, during 
the last five months, have placed the landing 
and dispersion of the convicts out of the 
question. They have removed the execu- 
tion of such measures from among the ^^pos- 
sibilities'^ contemplated by Earl Grey, when 
he wrote his private letters to Sir Harry 
Smith in August and September of last year. 
But his Excellency still entertains the opi- 
lion that, without violating his duty to the 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 239 

Queen and the Colony committed to his 
charge, he may detain the convicts on board 
the " Neptune," in Simon's Bay, until he 
receives replies to certain despatches on the 
subject, addressed to the Secretary of State 
which may be expected in a month or six 
weeks. 

In this view of his duty, as governor of 
this Colony and her Majesty's representa- 
tive, the inhabitants feel it impossible to 
concur with him. They consider the attempt 
to convert an old established free Colony into 
a penal settlement, against the remonstrances 
of the inhabitants, to be not only injurious, 
despotic, and tyrannical in itself, but beyond 
the constitutional prerogatives and recog- 
nised powers of the crown of Great Britain. 
An act of Parliament, in general terms, au- 
thorizes the crown, by orders in council, to 
name any place within or without the British 
dominions, to which convicts may be con- 
veyed, and to convey them to such place. 
But, can any one admit that, by virtue of this 
act, the Queen may convey them into the 



240 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

private houses of gentlemen in England, or 
into Lambeth Palace, or into St. Paul's 
Cathedral, or into France, Russia, China, or 
Japan ? 

When the general terms of an act of 
Parliament are not guarded by limitations 
expressed in the act itself, common sense, 
the laws of nature and religion supply 
the deficiency. Thus the Queen has the 
power of declaring war, and proceeds to 
acts of hostility against a friendly power 
without cause, or to make peace with an 
enemy on terms utterly disgraceful and 
ruinous to the kingdom, her ministers may 
be made to answer for it with their liberty, 
their property, or their lives. There is 
nothing better known in constitutional his- 
tory than the abuse of power — that is, the 
exertion of prerogative in the prosecution of 
objects inconsistent with justice and huma- 
nity — objects not expressly excepted in laws 
written on the fleshy tables of the human 
heart. 

"Of those objects the case now in hand 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 241 

furnishes an example ; and the people here 
are confirmed in this opinion by the repeated 
declarations of the present ministers them- 
selves, uttered in Parliament, in the face of 
the world, and by the clear admission, in 
their official despatches, that in no case should 
convicts be forced upon a colony against the 
wishes of the inhabitants. 

" In the present case, Lord Grey has vio- 
lated all those principles. Against the wishes 
of the inhabitants he has procured the inser- 
tion of the Cape among the places to which 
convicts may be conveyed. Against the re- 
monstrances and protests of the inhabitants, 
he has ordered a cargo of convicts to be con- 
veyed to these shores. In violation of the 
promises and pledges given by himself and 
his colleagues, he perseveres in this measure. 
For this abuse of power ^ it is hoped that there 
will be found virtue enough in Parliament 
and the country to mflict upon him the 
punishment he deserves. 

In the meantime, the inhabitants feel per- 
fectly justified, as men and British subjects, 

VOL. n. M 



242 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

to meet this abiise of power with an unqua- 
lified refusal to submit to it. They do not 
deem it becoming, or expedient, or safe, to 
wait for orders from the minister, which they 
have previously determined not to obey, nor 
to permit any one here to enforce, if they 
prove to be in any way inconsistent with 
the demands which they have made — that 
the convict ship and prisoners shall leave 
these shores. They are not negotiating with 
the minister. They peremptorily deny the 
existence of the right which he has usurped 
of making the Cape a penal settlement. 
They declare plainly that they will not sub- 
mit to the execution of his unconstitutional 
decree. They require no answer. They will 
wait for none. And, to the governor, they 
respectfully represent that they are a por- 
tion of the British people, possessing certain 
rights, which they will not allow either Lord 
Grey, or any one else, to violate ; and that 
he is the representative of a constitutional 
and limited monarch, among whose prero- 
gatives that of converting the Cape of Good 



A VOYAGE TO CHINAi. 243 

Hope into a penal settlement, against the 
wishes of the inhabitants^ is not to be found. 

Why then should he wait for further 
instructions from Lord Grey? 

The presence of the convict-ship is a 
wrong, an insult, an injury. It perpetuates 
the degradation and disgrace of the Colony 
in the eyes of the world. It diverts the 
eyes of respectable emigrants, possessing 
character, enterprise, and capital, from a 
countiy to which they were beginning to be 
generally attracted. It is sapping tlie sen- 
timents of loyalty in every heart. It en- 
dangers the peace of the community, and 
brings into peril and hazard the property 
and life of every individual composing it. 
And for what ostensible purpose ? That 
these unhappy convicts may be kept afloat 
a month or six week« longer than they 
would be if the ship were immediately to 
depart. For she must go away at last ; and 

where to? 

The colonies to the eastward are by this 
time in a state of determined opposition ^ 

m2 



244 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

perhaps not confined to words, which would 
make the conveyance of ticket-of-leave men 
thither a mere consi^ment to destruction. 
They would not be received. They would 
not be employed. They would not be sup* 
ported. Let the Governor and Surgeon- 
Superintendant, therefore, arrange, without 
a moment's unnecessary delay, to convey 
these unfortunate victims of ministerial in- 
capacity back to the authorities from whom 
they received their instructions, adding, if 
they think fit, a recommendation that, in 
consideration of their good conduct and 
protracted sufferings, a free pardon may be 
granted to every one of them. 

At different meetings held in the Com- 
mercial Exchange by the members of the 
Anti-Convict Association, it was resolved 
unanimously, — " That we, the undersigned 
colonists and inhabitants of the Cape of 
Good Hope, hereby solemnly declare and 
pledge our faith to each other that we will 
not employ, or knowingly admit into our 
establishments or houses, work with or for, 



A VOYAOB TO CHINA. 245 

or associate with, any convicted felon, or 
felons, sent to this Colony under sentence of 
transportation ; and that we will discoun- 
tenance and drop connection with any per- 
son who may assist in landing, supporting, 
or employing such convicted felons. Physi- 
cians, priests, judges, and executioners, may 
discharge their respective functions upon all 
such men without infringing the ' pledge/ 

" That the names of all persons acting 
contrary to the * pledge,' after being duly 
ascertained, be published in the newspapers. 

" That it is the duty of all good and loyal 
subjects of her Majesty at once, from this 
day, to suspend all business transactions 
with the government, military, naval, or 
civil departments, in any shape, or on any 
terms, until it is officially declared that the 
* Neptune,' with the convicts on board, will 
go away as soon as all necessary supplies for 
her voyage can be put on board, and that 
all intercourse and connection between pri- 
vate individuals and his Excellency and 
heads of the victualling, department, shall be 
dropped from this day." 



246 A VOYAGE •TO CHINA. 

The Merchants, Auctioneers, Bakers, 
Butchers, Shopkeepers, and all other good 
and loyal people dealing only with such 
private individuals, as they know, and clearly 
understand to be unconnected with those 
departments, by or through which supplies, 
sufficient to aflford a pretext for the detention 
of the convicts, may possibly be obtained : — 

" And that the measures already taken for 
this purpose being too slow for the urgency 
of the case, it is recommended, that from 
this moment, all shops and stores shall be 
closed, as for a solemn fast, except for the 
accommodation of ordinary private and well- 
known customers, that his Excellency may 
no longer be in doubt as to the impossibility 
of detaining the ' Pest ship Neptune ' within 
the limits of this Colony. 

Indemnlty Fund. 
" We, the undersigned, promise to pay to 
the treasurer of the Anti-Convict- Association 
the sums placed by us opposite to our names 
herein, for the purpose of Indemnifying 
those persons who have, or shall, suffer pecu- 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 247 

niary loss by adhering faithfully to the 
* Pledge.' " To this the most influential 
people subscribed £50, and a great number 
from £10 to £25 each, so that a large sura 
was raised. The unofficial Members of the 
Legislative Council all refused to act, and 
resigned their seats. 

A subscription was also set on foot to 
supply the convicts with extra comforts and 
luxuries on their departure from Simon's 
Bay for the remainder of their voyage. 
This being contrary to the rules of the ser- 
vice, the money was handed over to the 
authorities in the ship, to be distributed 
amongst those at the end of the voyage 
who should be distinguished for good beha- 
viour. 

It appears, however, from intelligence just 
received, that so mutinous and disorderly 
was the conduct of the convicts in the " Nep- 
tune," on her voyage to Van Dieman's Land, 
that it was almost found necessary for the 
captain to give orders to fire upon them, and 
that the highest praise has most deservedly 



248 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

been awarded to the officers and men com- 
posing the detachment of the 98th regiment 
(who were on board the ship, and have only 
just returned to the Cape), for their extreme 
forbearance towards the malefactors, who 
were landed at Launceston. This fact, if 
any were wanting, is another convincing 
proof that the spirited determination exhi- 
bited by the Cape Colonists, in resisting such 
ah objectionable importation into their peace- 
ful homes, was highly praiseworthy, and 
cannot be too greatly applauded by every 
thinking and right-minded individual. 

On the 23rd February, two days after the 
celebrated " Neptune" had left Simon's Bay 
for Van Dieman's Land, we sailed out of 
Table Bay for England. Having the wreck 
of the ** Childe Harold" fresh in our memory, 
we gave Dassen's Island a wide berth. 

Nothing particular occurred in our pas- 
sage across the Atlantic until we sighted St. 
Helena on the 6th March, and Ascension on 
the 10th; passed, on the 7th April, between 
the islands of Flores and Fayal, two of the 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 249 

Azores, and, after a constant succession of 
gales of wind, arrived in soundings on the 
14th. A slant of wind up channel took us 
in three days to the Downs, and, on the 
18th April, 1850, I landed at Gravesend, 
rejoiced at finding myself treading once more 
upon English ground, which it was thought 
for three months I was never destined to 
reach again. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 251 



APPENDIX. 



CASE OF THE MAY-FLOWER. 

{See page 73.) 

On the 27th September, the cutter **Maj -flower," 
commanded by an Englishman, was attacked in 
the Canton River, off second bar, by Chinese, in a 
boat pulling sixty oars, who plundered and set 
fire to the cutter, after seriously wounding the 
master and some of the crew, — there being no 
sufficient force to resist so formidable an attack. 
The Chinese boat was in appearance what is usu- 
ally termed a Mandarin-boat, but probably a 
smuggler ; and it is also probable that rivalry in 
traffic had as much to do in her capture as her 
actual cargo, which consisted chiefly of opium. 
Within the last six months, two other vessels of 
her class, American owned, have been cut off in 
a similar way ; and we have already taken occasion 
to remark, that however much individual cases 



252 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

are to be deplored, it can hardly be expected that 
redress should be demanded by any power in treaty 
with China. 

If foreign vessels will engage in a dangerous 
and illicit traffic, they must do so on their own 
responsibility ; and it seems by no means unlikely 
that attempts will be made to cut off all such yes- 
sels, and that for reasons we formerly assigned in 
noticing the case of the ** Emma" {China Mail^ No. 
220, May 3), and which we here repeat : — " This 
sort of traffic (smuggling opium between Cumsing- 
nioon and Canton) was formerly carried on almost 
exclusively by Chinese boatmen, who arranged 
with the mandarins to pay a certain proportion of 
the large sum they received per chest for their 
non-interference. The amount was fixed, and so 
long as it was paid, no questions were asked nor 
risk incurred. The charge, however, was so high 
as to induce foreigners to place fast-sailing cutters 
on the river, which as they required smaller crews, 
and paid no toll to the mandarins, were enabled to 
carry opium at much lower rates, and thus secured 
most of the employment. It is not convenient 
for the mandarins openly to interfere, much less 
to have so large a revenue cut off; and it is there- 
fore more than suspected that they have planned 
the destruction of all the foreign smuggling craft 
on the river, using the Chinese smugglers for the 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 253 

purpose ; and as this is not the firsts neither do 
we expect it will be the last, capture of vessels of 
the description of the "Emma/* the owners of 
which cannot expect redress from their own 
authorities, who, on the contrary, are bound by 
treaty to afford the Chinese every facility for put- 
ting down such illicit traffic." 

The " Mayflower," it may be remembered, was 
a short time ago seized for having smuggled goods 
on board, and being without papers. She after- 
wards obtained a sailing letter from the Governor 
of Hong Kong, by virtue of which she hoisted 
English colours. — China Mail, Nov. 8. 



ACCOUNT OF THE TEA PLANT. 
(^See page 168.) 

It is planted in rows, and pruned to prevent 
luxuriancy. "Vast tracts of hilly land (says Sir 
George Staunton) are planted with it, particularly 
in the province of Fokien. Its perpendicular 
growth is impeded for the convenience of collect- 
ing its leaves, which is done first in spring, and 
twice afterwards in the course of the summer. Its 
long and tender branches spring up almost from 
the root without any intervening naked trunk. It 
is bushy like $, rose-tree, and the expanded petals 



254 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

of the flower bear some resemblance to that oi 
the rose. Every information received concerning 
the tea-plant concurred in aflirming that its 
qualities depended both upon the soil in which it 
grew, and the age at which the leaves were 
plucked off the tree, as well as upon the manage- 
ment of them afterwards. The largest and oldest 
leaves, which are the least esteemed, and destined 
for the use of the lowest classes of the people, 
are often exposed to sale with little previous 
manipulation, and still retaining that kind of 
vegetable taste which is common to most fresh 
plants, but which vanishes in a little time, whilst 
the more essential flavour, characteristic of each 
particular vegetable, remains long without diminu- 
tion. The young leaves undergo no inconsider- 
able preparation before they are delivered to the 
purchaser. Every leaf passes through the fingers 
of a female, who rolls it up almost to the form it 
had assumed before it became expanded in the 
progress of its growth. It is afterwards placed 
upon thin plates of earthenware, or iron, made 
much thinner than can be executed by artists out 
of China. It is confidently said, in the country, 
that no plates of copper are ever employed for 
that purpose. Indeed, scarcely any utensil used 
in China is of that metal, the chief application of 
which is for coin. The earthen or iron plates are 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 255 

placed over a charcoal fire, which draws all re- 
maining moisture from the leaves, rendering them 
dry and crisp. The colour and astringency of 
green tea are thought to be derived from the early 
period at which the leaves are plucked, and which, 
like unripe fruit, are generally green and acrid." 



DESTRUCTION OF CHINESE PIRATES. 

« 

(See page 175.) 
(From the China Mad, Nov. 29, 1849.) 

The following is the Government notification of 
the proceedings of the late expedition : — 

His Excellency her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, 
&c., has much satisfaction in publishing for gene- 
ral information the accompanying official commu-^ 
nication, dated " Chokeum, Cochin China, 28rd 
October, 1840," from Commander John C. Dai- 
ry mple Hay, to the address of his Excellency 
Rear- Admiral Sir Francis A. Collier, C.B., K.C.H., 
Commander-in-Chief, reporting the success which 
has attended the operations of the " Columbine," 
" Fury," and " Phlegethon," aided by a party of 
officers and men from her Majesty's ship " Hast- 
ings," at the entrance of the Tonquin River, 
against the piratical squadron under the command 
of the notorious Shap-ting-sai, 



256 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

** Her Majesty's sloop Columbine, 
" Chokenm, Cochin China, Oct. 23, 1849. 

" Sir, — I have the satisfaction to report to your 
Excellency the great success of the expedition 
you did me the honour to place under my com- 
mand. Fifty-eight piratical vessels, mounting 
about 1,j200 guns, with crews of 3,000 men, have 
been totally destroyed by fire ; and, by the blessing 
of God, without the loss of one life of the officers 
and men under my orders. 

" After leaving Hong Kong on the 8th of October, 
I searched the harbours of Concock, Sattei, St. 
John's, Mong, Mamee, Sungyue, and Tienpak, and 
proceeded to Nowchou. From information received 
there, I determined to proceed to Hoi-how, in Hai- 
nan, inside the shoals, and through the junk passage, 
for I found good pilots, and junks with fourteen 
feet draught going through, and we drew little 
more than fifteen feet ; Shap-ting-rtsai had boasted 
he would go where English ships dared not 
follow him. This vaunt I determined to belie. 
We reached Hoi-how on the 13th, and found the 
Governor-General Ho, whom I visited at the 
capital, in great fear of the pirates, and with a 
most friendly feeling to the English nation. He 
immediately ordered a Mandarin, named Wong, to 
proceed with me, taking with him eight war-junks, 
and I gave him a passage, to prevent delay, on 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 257 

board the * Fury,' On the 16th, we reached 
Chookshan, which the pirate-fleet had left five 
days before, and we found the same sad story of 
towns destroyed, men murdered, and women taken 
away, that mark his track along the coast. On 
Thursday, the 18th, we fell in with one of his 
look-out vessels, which, having got into shallow 
water, was overtaken by the * Phlegethon,' and 
destroyed by her boats, under the command of Mr. 
Simpson, first officer.. On the 19th, we reached 
Hoo-nong5 his reported haunt, and found he had 
gone about twelve miles further, and I feared we 
had lost him ; but that invaluable officer, Mr. 
Daniel R. Caldwell, impressed me so strongly 
with the correctness of his information, that I 
decided on a reconnaissance in the * Phlegethon,' in 
spite of our shortness of fuel ; and proceeding into 
Chokeum for that purpose, on Saturday morning, 
the ^Oth, saw thirty-seven of the fleet under weigh. 
** From seven o'clock until four, p.m., like terriers 
at a rat-hole, we hunted for the channel. Then a 
pilot managed to escape from the shore. I pro- 
ceeded in the V Phlegethon,' with the *Fury* 
astern, and * Columbine 'in tow, over the bar, 
fourteen feet (mud), and at 4.40 had the pleasure 
of finding all the ships warmly engaged. At 5.5 
Shap-ting-tsai's junk blew up with a tremendous 
crash, and at 5.30 they had ceased firing. Before 



258 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

eight o'clock twenty-seven were in flames^ and the 
squadron in position to hlockade the river. On 
the 21st of October, the steamers and boats de- 
stroyed twenty-four more; and nine of them gave 
Lieutenant George Hancock, in a paddle-box boat 
of the *Fury/ assisted by Captain Moore, R.M., 
and Mr. Close, acting-mate, with Mr. Leao, an 
opportunity of distinguishing himself. Two large 
junks turned to bay to defend the retreat of the 
rest, but Mr. Hancock so handled his boat and her 
gun, that after an hour and twenty minutes he 
had beaten them from their guns, and carried them 
by boarding without loss, and then pursued and 
destroyed the other seven, Mr. Hancock's bold- 
ness in attacking, and correct judgment in manag- 
ing this affair, are worthy of the highest praise; 
and Captain Moore, R.M. ; Mr. N. N. C. Leao, a 
Brazilian Lieutenant ; and Mr. F. A. Close, acting- 
mate, gave him the greatest assistance. 

" On Monday, the 22nd, I proceeded in the 
* Phlegethon ' and boats to destroy all that were 
left. We found that the Mandarins had destroyed 
four, and we finished two others. The low flat 
islands at the mouth of the river were at times 
covered with men deserted from the junks, yet 
afraid of the Cochin Chinese, who had assembled 
in great numbers to attack them. The ships' 
boats and small-arm men harassed and destroyed 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 269 

many by constant fire of shell and grape, whilst 
the Cocliin Chinese destroyed and captured the 
rest. From the best information, it appears that 
the fleet consisted of sixty-four vessels of war, 
which may be classed as follows : — 

Claaa. No. Guns. Guns. Crews. No. of Men. 
let 1 of 42 42 120 120 

2nd 16 of 28 to 34 480 . ... 75 1,200 

3rd... . 42 of 12 to 19 672 40 1,680 

4th 5 of 6 30 30 150 



Total... 64 1,224 3,150 

** Of these, two small of the third class, and 
four of the fourth have escaped with Shap-ting- 
tsai, but without much ammunition ; and the Man- 
darin assures me he will shortly destroy him — now 
an easy prey. He took with him about 400 men ; 
so that, 1700 having been killed, about 100 more 
remain to be finished by the Cochin Chinese, who 
have already sent prisoners to the Mandarins. 

** I shall now proceed to Hong Kong with all 
despatch. I have the pleasure of mentioning the 
exceeding good conduct of the officers and men 
during these laborious and hazardous operations. 
Their unanimity, willingness, and cheerfulness, 
have made it a most pleasant service, and no 
plunder, rapine, or misconduct, has tarnished 
their honour. Major-General Wong, the Manda- 
rin, proved himself a gallant, active, and efficient 



260 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

ally, and I trust his own government may reward 
him for his good services. To have Commander 
Willcox with me is, I feel, to have success. As 
a friend and an officer he is unequalled, and his 
ship is in such good order, that I believe there is 
nothing he could not do. His judgment and gal- 
lantry are on an equal footing. Mr. Niblet, of 
the * Phlegethon' has handled his ship in a bold and 
determined manner, and has given me every 
assistance. As I was frequently obliged to be in 
the steamers, the command of this sloop has de- 
volved upon Lieut. J. H. Bridges, senior lieute- 
nant, and he conducted her in action on the 20th, 
with much ability. Lieut. Darnell, senior of the 
* Fury/ in command of her boats, has also rendered 
good service. Captain Moore, of the * Hastings' 
Marines, has assisted me most materially in com- 
mand of that body. Lieut. Hancock and Mr. 
Chambers, acting mate, in command of the re- 
spective detachments of ' Hastings' men have given 
me much satisfaction; and Mr. Rathbone, mid- 
shipman of the * Fury,' has brought himself into 
notice for his zeal. I have also to notice the 
name of Mr. Algernon Woorton, midshipman, a 
most promising young officer, who has acted as 
my aid-de-camp, and been very useful on every 
occasion. 

'* I have the honour to enclose a list of the 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 261 

oflScers employed in the boats, who, I have no 
doubt, would equally have distinguished themselves, 
if they had had the opportunity. 

" I enclose a journal of my proceedings since 
leaving Hong Kong; together with some hydro- 
graphical remarks, compiled by Mr. Thomas Kerr, 
acting-master of this sloop, which will, I trust, 
be of service to commerce and navigation in the 
Gulf of Tonquin, hitherto so little known. Mr. 
Kerr, during all this very hazardous naviga- 
tion, has proved himself a careful and judicious 
officer. 

*' Mr. D. R. Caldwell, of the police-force, has 
again proved his talent as a linguist, his intimate 
knowledge of the Chinese character, and the 
thorough correctness of his information. To him, 
in a great measure, our success is to be attri- 
buted. 

" Mr, Soames, master of the Hong Kong Com- 
pany's steam vessel, ' Canton,' did his work well as 
pilot, as far as he was acquainted with the coast. 
— 1 have the honour to be, sir, your most obe- 
dient, humble servant, 

" John C. Dalrymple Hay, Commander. 

" His Excellency, Rear-Admiral, Sir Francis 
A. Collier, C. B., K. C. H., Commander-in-Chief, 
&c." 



262 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

Officers of Her Majesty's Service, Em- 
ployed IN Boats, with Small Arm De- 
tachments, AND IN THE " PhLEGETHON." 

Captain Thomas C. C. Moore, R. M., * Hast- 
ings.' 

Lieuts. — James H. Bridges, ^Columbine;* George 
Hancock, ' Hastings ;' Phillip W. Darnell and Ed- 
ward A. Blackett, ' Fury ;' G. E. S. Pearee Sero- 
cold, ' Columbine,' slightly wounded in boarding 
a junk; N« N. C. Leao, * Fury,' Brazilian lieut. 

Masters. — W. H. Williams, * Fury ;' Acting, 
Thomas Kerr, * Columbine.' 

Mates Acting — Ennis Chambers and F. A. 
Close, * Hastings.' Douglass Walker, ' Columbine,' 
bitten by a snake, while in command of small 
arm men. 

Assist, 'Surgs. — Dugald M'c Ewen, ' Hastings ;' 
John Murphy, * Fury'. 

2nd Lieut. R. M. — R. G. Halliday, 'Hastings.' 

Passed Clerk — J. R. Benifold, ' Columbine.' 

Midshipmen — St. George Rathborneand A. K. 
Ford, *Fury ;' A. G. Woortton, ' Columbine;' T. 
Phillips, * Fury ;' C. Crowdy, F. A. Handfield 
and G. R. Harvey, ' Columbine.' 

Masters Assists. — F. J. Freshfield, * Columbine ;' 
W. Hussey, ' Fury.' 

We learn by the latest advices, that the pirate 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 263 

cliief, Shap-ting-tsai (whose fleet was recently de- 
stroyed by the English men-of-war, in the Gulf 
of Tonquin), had given in his submission to the 
Chinese government, on terms which secured 
oflice to himself and his lieutenants, and amnesty 
for [his followers. He is now a mandarin of the 
fifth grade. His followers are pardoned, and 
" aflectionately admonished to return to their 
homes, and endeavour to become good subjects." 
On the 4th of March, Captain Lockyer, in the 
Medea (acting on the requisition of the Chinese 
local authorities), attacked and destroyed, in Mirs 
Bay, a fleet of thirteen piratical junks, mounting 
from eight to eighteen guns each. Two hundred 
and twenty of the pirates were killed, and twenty 
captured ; six hundred made their escape under 
cover of night. Captain Lockyer accomplished 
this service without a casualty of any kind on our 
side. 



THE CONVICT QUESTION AT THE CAPE. 

{Seepage 234.) 

Since my remarks on the above subject were 
written, my attention has been drawn to the opi- 
nions expressed by Lieutenant- Colonel Napier, in 
his ^* Excursions in Southern Africa," and as they 



264 A VOYAGE TO CmNA. 

so precisely accord with my own sentiments, I offer 
no apology for introducing them in this place. 

The gallant Colonel (who took an active part in 
the late Kaffir war,) observes : — 

'* As the last portion of this work was going 
through the press, the recent * Convict Question 
at the Cape * attracted a renewed degree of interest 
wdth the Public, from the decided opposition 
evinced by the inhabitants of that Colony, to a de- 
cision exposing the British Governnient not only 
to the imputation of haying endeavoured to enforce 
an arbitrary and unconstitutional measure, but 
likewise to a breach of faith towards the inhabi- 
tants of an important and hitherto loyal portion of 
Her Majesty's dominions. This step has not only 
excited in that Settlement the utmost consterna- 
tion, but has — in a frenzied moment of despair — 
fairly driven it to the very brink of actual rebel- 
lion ; most seriously compromising, at the same 
time, a brave and devoted servant of Her Majesty, 
who, on the most solemn assurances from the 
highest quarters, had pledged himself towards the 
people whom he governed, that the Cape of Good 
Hope should not be thus converted into a second 
' Norfolk Island; " 

"We shall not," says an influential publica- 
tion of the day, " enter into the question of 
the right of the Mother Country to force a 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 265 

Convict population upon any Colony of the Em- 
pire, or whether a conquered Colony is so entirely 
at our mercy, that we can have the right to de- 
prive the Dutch Colonists of their slave labour, 
paying them a trifling compensation for their loss, 
and then supply them with Convict labour, 
equally against their will ;. or whether the com- 
pact made with the Parliamentary Emigrants in 
1820, that the Colony should never be the recep- 
tacle of Convicts, is not binding towards their 
descendants : but we do protest against the plea 
of the expenditure of one or two millions in the 
late Kaflir war, ' as provoked by the Colonists,* 
giving the Mother Country the right to make the 
Cape a Convict Colony. Such a plea is very like 
adding insult to injury; for how stands the 
matter ?" 

With respect to this accusation brought against 
the Settlers, of having been the cause of the last 
or any previous Kaffir war — it is a charge assuredly 
without any foundation. TJiese wars — as I shall, 
in the course of the present work, very clearly 
prove — these wars originated in the most mis- 
taken course of policy, obstinately pursued to- 
wards a set of faithless and rapacious savages, who 
were constantly tempted to plunder the Colonists 
with impunity, owing to the unprotected state in 

VOL. II. N 



266 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

which the whole extent of the Eastern Frontier 
has invariably been left. 

Now, as to the "Convict Case" itself, it stands 
briefly as follows : when the question was first 
mooted, of converting the Colony of the Cape of 
Good Hope into a penal settlement. Sir Harry 
Smith strongly remonstrated against such a step. 
In reply, he received an assurance from the 
Colonial Secretary of State, that this measure 
should not be carried into effect without the con- 
currence of its inhabitants ; which assurance was 
accordingly communicated to them, and apparently 
quieted their apprehensions ; for their dissent to 
the proposed "experiment" had been openly and 
unanimously manifested- However, ere the ex- 
pression of snch sentiments had possibly time to 
reach England, a vessel was thence despatched to 
Bermuda, with instructions to convey from that 
island a certain number of convicted felons, for 
the purpose of being deported and landed at the 
Cape of Good Hope. 

Such is a concise summary of the various circum- 
stances which have led to so unprecedented a state 
of affairs in that distant part of the world ; a pro- 
ceeding which — with very few exceptions — has been 
most severely animadverted upon by the whole of 
the British press. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 267 

On the other hand, it has been asked, "Of what 
use are our Colonies ?" And " What are we to do 
with our Convicts ?" I would reply, that in the pre- 
sent over-peopled and starving state of the Mother 
Country, " Emigration"^ — not " transportation" — 
would be the most useful and legitimate purpose to 
which a Colony — ^as yet but thinly peopled — and 
blessed with a fine healthy climate — could, under 
existing circumstances, be applied ; but that most 
assuredly the prospect of being amalgamated with 
the outcasts of society holds out but a faint en- 
couragement for Emigrants — having thef least claim 
on respectability —to repair thither. As regards the 
right or justice of such a measure, to compare small 
things with great, it may be asked — supposing 
always such to be within the bounds of possibility — 
if, in order to remove from certain wretched quar- 
ters of the metropolis, that pestilence which for 
some time past has been decimating their squalid 
inhabitants ; if for the accomplisliment of so salu- 
tary an object, it would be considered justifiable to 
turn the course of those drains, cesspools, and 
other sources of contagion, whence the above fear- 
ful visitation is supposed to have emanated, into 
an entirely new channel — say along Carlton Ter- 
race, St. James's, or the fashionable regions of 
Belgravia ? I will ask — should the possibility of 
such a contingency occur — whether the inhabitants 

N 2 



268 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

of those favoured parts of London which have 
hitherto, comparatively speaking, been free from 
infection, whether they would, with patriotic satis- 
faction, hail the boon thus gratuitously thrust 
upon their acceptance, for the exclusive benefit of 
another portion of the community, or whether they 
would indignantly reject the same ? 

Supposing, as a further sanitary precaution in 
favour of the infected districts, it were proposed to 
make the various metropolitan grave-yards yield up 
their mouldering and putrescent contents, and to 
pile up this festering mass at the threshold of cer- 
tain buildings in Downing Street, whence have 
emanated those philanthropic resolves so kindly 
manifested towards the Colonists of the Cape — what 
would be the result of such benevolent — of such 
well-meaning intentions ? I will . tell you. The 
strongest remonstrances and universal dissatisfac- 
tion would be the immediate consequences; and 
the malcontents, not being strong enough to op- 
pose these obnoxious measures, would, as far as 
lay in their power, desert their hitherto salubrious 
and unpolluted abodes ; whilst such as had the 
imprudence to remain might, in all probability, 
become speedily tainted with the *' prevailing 
epidemic." 

I will ask : Would such a scheme as the above 
be for a moment tolerated, or even listened to ? 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA, 269 

And yet the case in point is perfectly parallel ; we 
are proposing to turn those foul channels, replete 
with moral filth, from the spot which has given 
them birth, and to inundate, with their revolting 
contents, the rural and hitherto uncontaminated 
pastures of Southern Africa ! 

What then is the produce likely to ensue from 
such a "dressing ?" I can tell you. An Upas tree 
will be engendered, whose deadly shades must 
inevitably scare away not only future emigration, 
but likewise drive the actual Settlers at the Cape 
to follow an example already provoked by the 
infliction of previous injustice — to abandon their 
adopted homesteads, and to avoid contamination, 
by flying for safety to the boundless wilderness ! 



BECBNT OCCURRENCES IN CHINA. 

Since the arrival of the February mail, it has 
been reported, and partially believed, that the 
Portuguese Government is sending out a strong 
naval force, and 3,000 troops, with a view to obtain 
satisfaction for the murder of the late Governor 
of Macao. It is alleged that Portugal pawned 
Goa to the East India Company for £150,000, and 
that this fund furnishes her with the sinews of 
war. The English papers received by the March 



270 A VOYAGE TO CBtSA. 

mail take no notiee €>{ thk expedition, and we 
have doubts as to the troth of thc^ report. One 
thing is certain^ a Portugaese £rigate of 44 guns 
arrived at Singapore early in this month ; at Macao, 
she is looked for daily. This veKsel brings out the 
new Governor.* 

The eity of Canton, and the neigbboming towns 
and villages, are afflicted by a malignant fever. It 
is comm<mly called tjrphus. Sonte European phy- 
sicians are of opinion that it is akin to the yellow 
fever of the West Indies; others think that it 
resembles the plague which desolated London two 
centuries ago. The disease is said to be fatal 
invariably ; its victims linger three or four days, 
though, in some instances, they have died in twelve 
hours. More than one European doctor would 
cheerfully tender their services — but the Chinese 
are obstinate in their adherence to old custom — 
old ignorant quackery. This distemper has not 
made its appearance at the Factories. 

Death of the Emperor of China. — Shortly 
after I left China, died, on the 25th of February, the 
Emperor of China, Tau-Kwang (the Lustre of Rea- 
son), in the 69th year of his age, and the 30th of his 
reign. The Foreign Consuls at Shanghae received 
from the authorities there, on the 20th of March, 

* He died shortly after his arrival at Macao. 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 2?! 

an official notice that his Majesty the Emperor 
"had departed upon the great journey, and had 
mounted upwards on the dragon to be a guest on 
high." The nomination of a successor rests always 
with the Emperor, and, before his death, Tau- 
Kwang decreed that his fourth and only surviving 
son should succeed him. He ascended the throne 
the day of the Emperor's death, and is to reign 
under the title of Sze-hing. He is only nineteen 
years of age. Keying, the former Viceroy at 
Canton, is appointed his principal guardian, and 
will no doubt hold a high and an influential posi- 
tion in the cabinet. It is not likely that any 
material change in the policy of the Government 
will take place, but from the enlightened character 
of Keying, and his knowledge of foreigners, the 
tendency of any new measures will probably be 
towards a more liberal course. The customs and 
prejudices of the people, and their tranquillity, 
will of course, however, always occupy the chief 
consideration. 



MISSIONAEY LABOURS IN CHINA. 

China being now opened, as it is considered to 
be, to the rest of the world, the European public 
are anxious to obtain as much information as pos- 



272 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

sible relative to the Celestial Empire. The fol- 
lowing particulars respecting the labours of the 
Missionaries in that country, were lately commu- 
nicated in two lectures, delivered at the Town 
Hall, Brighton, by Mr. Fairbrother, a gentleman 
who has recently returned from the "Flowery 
Land." 

Mr. Fairbrother commenced by stating that he 
had resided a considerable time in various parts of 
China, but had been compelled to return to 
England on account of ill health. He then 
expressed his desire that the Gospel might be 
extended to the Chinese nation, and he fervently 
hoped that it would be, through the exertions now 
made in this country to send forth missionaries 
with the "Book" (the Bible) in their hand, to 
convey the joyful tidings to a nation so deeply 
plunged in idolatry as the Chinese were. He then 
proceeded to give some account of the opinions 
entertained by the Chinese themselves, especially 
those of their literary men. They divided history 
nto three parts: — 1. The first, which they re- 
garded as little more than fabulous. 2. The 
probable. 3. The certain. (This agrees pretty 
well with the three grand historical divisions made 
by Europeans.) He thought that formerly the 
more learned Chinese entertained ideas of the 
" Most Highest;'' but these seemed to have been 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 273 

lost sight of by the Chinese of the present day, 
and idolatrous worship was very general, 

Mr. Fairbrother thought that the tranquillity 
of China might perhaps be attributed a good deal 
to the almost universal education of the people, of 
which he proceeded to give some instances. The 
missionaries had begun to cast type in the Chinese 
character, hoping, through the instrumentality of 
the press, to promote the circulation of the Gos« 
pel, when one day a Chinaman came into the place 
where the type was being cast, and observed that 
they were casting the same sort of moveable type 
which they (the Chinese) had in the interior of 
the country ! At first, this was treated as a mere 
idle story ; but subsequently some missionaries 
penetrated further into the country, and at a cer- 
tain place they found a person in possession of 
many thousands of moveable type, beautifully 
cast in brass, and the workmanship of which was 
far superior to that which the missionaries had 
cast. They oflFered the owner of this moveable 
type £1,200 for the property, which he refused, 
and the purchase was abandoned, as the missiona- 
ries did not feel themselves justified in ofiering a 
greater sum. 

Throughout China there were a great number 
of charitable institutions, under the patronage of 
the Emperor, but supported by voluntary contri- 

N 3 



274 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

butions. Some of the buildings of these institu- 
tions were very large and very ancient, but the 
institutions themselves were in some cases far 
more ancient than the buildings. For instance, 
one had been founded eleven hundred years before 
Christ; another, two hundred years before the 
Christian era. Some of these institutions were 
what we call Humane Societies, established for 
the restoration of persons in danger of being 
drowned ; and Mr. Fairbrother gave some details 
relative to these establishments. Others were 
institutions of universal benevolence, for the sup- 
port of the sick and poor, and especially of 
orphans. He described China as amazingly popu- 
lous. Go in what direction you might, you were 
astonished at the vast multitudes of people. Yet 
there were no roads ; only footpaths over the 
whole empire ; and along these footpaths persons 
of distinction were conveyed in vehicles resem- 
bling our sedan-chairs. At stated periods, a census 
was taken of the whole population. It w^as done 
in this way : — Every housekeeper was ordered to 
write on a black board, suspended at his door, the 
number of inmates in his house. On a certain 
day, the tytliing-man collected these boards from 
every ten houses. He then handed the boards 
over to the street officer. He gave them to the 
officer of the district ; and he gave them to the 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA* 275 

governor of the city, who forwarded them to the 
governor of the province, by whom they were 
forwarded to the Imperial Government — so that 
great reliance might be placed on these statistical 
returns. By the last census the population of 
the empire amounted to 361 millions (in round 
numbers). 

We must here pause a moment. The West- 
minster Review for October, 1849, says that" With 
regard to populousness, the evidence is tolerably 
conclusive that there is no part of China so densely 
populated as the county of Middlesex, or the de- 
partment of the Seine" (in France) ; and there is 
evidence, we think, that China is by no means so 
populous as it once was. Lieutenant John Ouch- 
terlony, who penetrated into China after the war, 
says (page 476), "The appearance of Nankin from 
the summit of the Porcelain Tower was somewhat 
disappointing — ^fuUy four-fifths of the space en- 
closed by ramparts revealing to us only a tract of 
cultivated land, instead of the teeming mass of 
buildings which we had been led to expect ;" and 
most of the houses themselves are only one 
story high. The walls of Pekin enclose many- 
void spaces, destitute of habitations, with fields 
and gardens devoted to the growth of vege- 
tables. 

Mr. Fortune ( Wanderings in China^ p. 294), 



276 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

says, " It would be ridiculous to assert, as some 
have done, that even the greater part of China is 
under cultivation. On the contrary, by far the 
greater part lies in a state of nature, and has never 
been disturbed by the hand of man. I am anxious 
to state this fact in express terms, in order to set 
those right who have been led to believe that every 
inch of land in the empire, however bleak and 
barren, is under cultivation, having given way to 
Chinese labour and skill. I myself, before I visited 
China, was under the same impression ; but the 
first glance at the rugged mountainous shores soon 
convinced me of my error." The supposed general 
scarcity of food in China is equally incorrect, as 
many hitherto entertained notions. Rice is sel- 
dom imported, and "it is sometimes a difficult 
matter to get through the streets for the immense 
quantities of fish, pork, fruit, and vegetables which 
crowd the stands in front of the shops. ♦ ♦ » [ 
believe that in no country in the world is there less 
real misery and want than in China. The very 
beggars are a jolly crew, and are kindly treated by 
the inhabitants." 

Mr. Fairbrother stated, however, that some cities 
in China contained three millions of inhabitants : 
others two; and many of a million each. One 
thing struck us with peculiar force ; that every 
vessel that arrived in China with food of any kind 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 277 

was wholly relieved from any duties, or customs 
whatever. 

Mr. Fairbrother said, that he had penetrated 
further into China than any other modem Euro- 
pean, and described the Chinese language and the 
characters of their alphabet, or rather the signs of 
their language. There were 80,000 of these cha- 
racters, which originated in the representation of 
actual objects, as that did which represented the 
sun, or a man. The representation of tea was the 
actual representation of the tea-plant. This writ- 
ten language or character was exactly the same 
throughout China ; but the language spoken varied 
in every province, and often more frequently. 
Thus, if a man were to read the written language, 
he would perfectly understand it, but he would 
call it — tea, for instance — by a name which none 
but those of his own province or city would under- 
stand. Mr. F, then gave specimens of the various 
names, as spoken, by which tea would be called, 
though the written character always remained the 
same. There was, consequently, an universal 
vmtten language, whilst spoken language was ex- 
ceedingly diversified. Aware of this fact, the 
missionaries had had the Scriptures translated 
into the universally written language, and it was 
through this medium chiefly, it was hoped, the 



278 A VOTAGB TO CflI2»A. 

Gt>spel would,, in the end, be spread over the vast 
Chinese empire. 

At Shanghad, the imssionarieft had a chapel in 
which services were performed thirteen times a 
week, and in four different langui^es. So rac- 
cessful had thehr labours been, that another chapel 
was about to be boilt* The missionaries, on en* 
quiring if they might go out of Shanghai into the 
country, were told by the governor that they mi^ht 
go if they returned within twenty-four hows. 
^'And what if we do not?** asked the missionaries. 
** If you do not," replied the governor, " you will 
be brought back to me in a wooden cage.*' '' And 
what then ?*' rejoined the missionaries. " I shall 
then send you home," replied the governor. But 
this was all said in a tone that intimated that he 
should treat them kindly, even if they transgressed 
the laws* But the missionaries generally acted so 
as not to violate them. Mr. F. then described a 
journey which he, accompanied by Dr. Lockhart 
and Mr. Medhurst, took up the river into the 
country. They left their boat, having written 
their names on it so as to know it again, and went 
on shore at some place where they found an im- 
mensely large fair going on. He could never 
ascertain exactly what place it was ; but the num- 
ber of people was very great. 

The number of boats in the river was incalcu- 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 279 

iable^ and great bustle prevailed. They distributed 
a number of tracts among the people, and then 
ascended a mount, from whence they had a view 
over a very extensive level country ; and, on the 
extreme verge of the horizon, they saw another 
large city. This they resolved to visit, if possible. 
They accordingly proceeded towards it, passing as 
they approached vast numbers of cottages, in which 
the people were busily pursuing their vocations. 
There are no factories in China, but all the beau- 
tiful works produced were executed in the cottages 
of the people — all the weaving, dying, &c., was 
done at home in those cottages. At length they 
reached the main street, about eight feet wide, 
of the city. The shops, gilded and painted, 
looked very fine ; but they were soon so com- 
pletely surrounded by the people that they 
could neither move forward nor retreat. The 
people viewed them with the greatest curiosity, 
and they were probably the first Europeans they 
had seen. In order to get liberated from the 
crowd, they consulted as to what was best to be 
done, and Dr. Lockhart said that he would address 
the people. He did so, saying that they — the 
Chinese — considered themselves as the most polite 
people in the world, but that. they — the missiona- 
ries — had no proof of it ; for they were so hem- 
med in that they could neither retreat nor advance. 



280 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

Upon this the people withdrew, so as to leave the 
missionaries more space, but demanded at the same 
time, where do you come from ? What do you 
want here?" **We cannot inform you of any- 
thing," replied the missionaries, '* in the street. 
Take us to some quiet place, and we will tell you 
all," They were then conducted to a very large 
temple, in which stood the three images of Buddha, 
before which the priests were burning incense. 
Arrived at this place, a fine old man addressed 
them, and asked from whence they came, and 
what were their names? Dr. Lockhart replied 
that they came from what the Chinese called the 
west country, and that his name was Lockhart; 
mine, Fairbrother ; and that the name of the third 
was Medhurst, and that in his own country he was 
called what the Chinese would interpret a good 
talker. 

Some time afterwards, a young man came to 
Shanghai from a distant city in the interior, and 
informed them that a tract had fallen into his 
hands, and he wished to know if it were one they 
issued. They told him it was, and he replied 
that it contained more important things than he 
had ever heard of before, and that he had come 
to them to seek further information. This young 
man continued to reside at Shanghai, and became 
so convinced of the truth of the Gospel, that he 



A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 281 

expressed a wish to be baptized. It was, no 
doubt, most desirable that natives should become 
missionaries; but the English missionaries were 
very cautious as to the employment of them, and, 
before they did so, it was most important to as- 
certain whether they were really and thoroughly 
convinced of the great truths of Christianity ; for 
plenty of men might be obtained who, for about 
fivepence a day, would read and speak of the 
Gospel, just as they would read or speak of the 
writings of Confucius. 

The Chinese generally spent their evenings in 
tea-shops, many of which were fitted up in a 
rather handsome way. Here they met to gossip 
and drink tea. One evening, as the missionaries 
accidentally were passing by a tea-shop, he ob- 
served the young man he (Mr. F.) had spoken of, 
reading aloud the Gospel to the people in the tea- 
shop, and expounding to the people Christ's 
Sermon on the Mount. Upon this hint the mis- 
sionaries had since acted, and they, too, went to 
the tea-shops to teach the Scriptures. This young 
man at length expressed a warm wish to return 
to his native city, that he might see his aged 
father before he died, and others of his family. 
The missionaries accordingly provided him with a 
good supply of tracts, and he set off to return to 



282 A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 

his own home. He had not been gone long, how- 
ever, before he came back to the missionaries, and 
informed them that his father had shut his door 
upon him, and that his three brothers had told 
him that the new doctrines had driven him mad. 



] 



283 



TABLE OF DISTANCES FROM VICTORIA TO 
MACAO VIA CAP-SUY-MOON. 



The same visl the Lantas Passage. 



FROM VICTORIA TO CANTON. 

Victoria to the Throat Gates 

Throat Gales to Toonkoo Islands 

Toonkoo Islands to Bogue Forts 

Bogue Forts to Second Bar 

Second Bar to Blenheim Reach, Whampoa 

Blenheim Reach to Canton 



Miles. 



Victoria to the Throat Gates, or entrance to Cap- 

suy-moon 6 

Throat Gates to Saw-chow .... 10 

Saw-chow to Macao 22 



38 



Victoria to Chung- chow 10 

Chung-chow to S. W. point of Lantao . . 10 

S.W. point of Lantao to Macao ... 17 



37 



6 
11 
28 
12 
10 
13 

80 



284 



FROM BOGUE FORTS TO MACAO. 

Bogae to Lankeet . v . . . . 7 

Lankeet to Kee-ow Point 15 

Kee-ow to Nine Islands 11 

Nine Islands to Macao 6 

39 



THE END. 



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